A League in the Making
by MarineAurora
Summary: Fifteen years ago a new region was discovered. Now it is time for the new League to take up their positions and get it running smoothly. But have things ever gone smoothly when 13 completely different persons are thrown together? Follow new champion Azure and her trusty Elite Four deal with new situations and the ever dreaded paperwork.
1. Running into the Unknown

This is a story that my friends and I have cooked up. It will be a slow start, but it should progress after the first few chapters.

Anyway, shout out to them. You are all awesome and I am so glad that I met you guys.

Chapter 1: Running into the Unknown

* * *

 _Broadcast Kanto news, June 5, 2000_

 _Thanks to newly implemented satellite technology a brand new region has been discovered far south of Hoenn. Official Ace trainers from the combined leagues are currently clearing the way for civilization to settle in this new region. Due to this current development, quite a few resources are now going to be focused somewhere else. Who knows what criminal organizations could do while all of this happens. The Champions of Hoenn and Sinnoh are currently leading in colonizing the region setting up small towns. They are aided in this endeavor by Joseph Stone, CEO of Devon Cooperation and Flint Silph, owner of Silph and CO._

 _At the moment they have set up an airport and a town nearby called Delphinus Town. We will be reporting more news later. Stay tuned._

* * *

 _Broadcast Hoenn News Network April 3, 2003_

 _It has been almost three years since the Metria region has been discovered. Progress is being made, slowly but surely. The region is quite vast and has plenty of natural resources that are being used in the development of the several towns and cities that have been planned. The newly inaugurated champion of Unova, Alder has made a visit to the region. He was excited over the progress that has been made in the past years and hopes that humans and Pokémon will be able to live in peace in Metria for many years._

 _Next week, Mr. Silph will lay down the first stone of the Corona City Stadium. We will keep you informed._

* * *

 _Broadcast Sinnoh News Net November 17, 2007_

 _We are standing at the site where Pyxis Town was planned to be build. During the preparation stage, ruins have been discovered underneath layers of sediment. The Pyxis Ruins, as they are now called, seem to have a connection with Mega Evolution. Until now it has been said that the origins of Mega Evolution came from Kalos, but the ruins in Metria show a different side to that story. We managed to get a statement from Professor Frost who is leading the excavation. Professor Frost is an expert in World Pokémon Myths._

 _"These Ruins are at least 1000 years old. And the rumors of Mega Evolution in Kalos didn't come into existence till 500 years ago. While we have heard rumors of the phenome in Hoenn, we have good reason to believe that the people who once lived here were capable of using Mega Evolution. We have found several stones that bare resemblance to what we now know as Keystones. We haven't found any of the Pokémon specific stones yet, but we are hopeful."_

 _We will keep you updated on this issue._

* * *

 _Broadcast Kalos HoloNetwork March 16, 2015_

 _It has been 15 years since Metria was discovered thanks to new satellite technology. Today it is a bustling region filled with Pokémon and aspiring trainers. Earlier today, an announcement was made by the United Pokémon League. They are planning on bringing a League branch to Metria. They have carefully selected trainers from all over the world to be part of this exciting new adventure. Currently, it is unknown who those invited trainers are, but we are keen to hear from them. We wish all of them good luck as they have a lot to live up to._

 _We will report as soon as we get more information about the situation._

"Sheesh, Malva hasn't changed a bit since I left, has she?" A girl sighed heavily as the news segment came to a close. The pinkette was still a bit stuck-up.

"Don't be so negative about Malva, she is amazing. She is both an Elite Four member and still has time to work as a news anchor for the Lysander HoloNetwork. I told you before, didn't I Azure?" Korrina admonished her elder cousin.

"Just because you are part of the Kalos League, doesn't mean you have to like her. I think she is a bit stuck up. I mean, 'We wish them good luck because they have a lot to live up to.' That is not nice to say to her potential colleagues." Azure stretched her sore limbs and sprang from her spot on the couch. Her partner Espeon stuck her tongue out to the blonde and swished her tail around happily.

"Don't the two of you have to be at the gym in like ten minutes? You know, your challengers?" Azure grinned at Korrina and her partner Lucario. The Aura Pokémon was leaning on the wall amused by the byplay of the cousins.

The blonde skater girl took a glance at the kitchen clock and yelped in surprise. Quickly gathering her stuff, Korrina rushed past their grandpa who just came back from getting the mail. He was barely able to avoid a full on crash.

"Korrina, what did I say about running in here?" The elderly man scolded the energetic girl.

"Can't talk grandpa, I am running late, again!" The small girl was gone within a minute, her partner running after her. Only Azure's laughter could still be heard in the small room.

"Doesn't that girl ever slow down?" The man shook his head before looking at his other granddaughter.

"She really is one of a kind, grandfather. I am sure she will manage just fine." Azure sat down on a chair at the kitchen table. Her long pale blond hair fell in a braid fell down her back and she pulled it over the back of the chair so she wouldn't sit on it.

"You are right, it is probably just my age. She is hard to keep up with these days." Gurkinn sighed before his expression turned serious.

"Enough about Korrina. Azure, do you know the reason why you were summoned home?" His wise eyes looked into his granddaughter's gray ones. She shook her head in confusion.

"I have no clue, grandfather." Azure picked up her Espeon and put the Eeveelution on her lap. She nervously stroke the proud Psychic-type, while she was thinking about the possible reason.

"Could it be the explosion Salamence caused while I was fighting with Ramos three weeks ago?" She shrunk back when Gurkinn glared at her. Oops, maybe he hadn't heard about that yet from Ramos.

"I wasn't informed of you blowing up the Coumarine Gym. This is the second time in two months that you managed to blow up something. But no, this is the reason why you were called home." Gurkinn handed her an official-looking envelope. Curiously she tried to find some clue as to whom send it.

The handwritten address didn't reveal anything as it wasn't familiar to her. The envelope was just a plain standard white. Finally, she found the small logo in the stamp. A Dragonair wrapped around three letters.

UPL. Or as it was also known as the United Pokémon League.

She swallowed heavily. What could they want with her? Her mind was racing with the implications of the letter. Did it have to do with the news segment?

With shaking hands, Azure opened the envelope, took out the letter and unfolded it. With every line she read, her mouth fell open a little more.

When she was done, she gathered Espeon in her arms and left the Tower of Mastery in some kind of trance. The letter fluttered slowly in the air until it came to rest on the kitchen table.

Gurkinn usually wasn't that curious about the correspondence of his grandchildren. However, the usually calm and collected Azure had reacted really strangely after reading it. He grabbed the letter and scanned it.

 _Miss Azure Shalour,_

 _You have been cordially invited to a meeting to discuss the future of the Metria Region Pokémon League. It may have come to your attention already, but the United Pokémon League is setting up a branch in Metria. We are currently on the lookout for people that would able to take up the positions related to the League, namely that of Gym Leader, Elite Four, and Champion for a few years or more._

 _You have been chosen to be involved in the process of the formation of the Metria League for your battle prowess in the last five years. You have consistently progressed farther than any other trainer has in the same time span. You have won several Conferences but have refused to challenge any of the Leagues officially for their positions._

 _After much debate, we of the United Pokémon League have decided to offer you the position of the first Champion of Metria._

 _You will be joined by twelve other candidates for the other positions at the meeting and following press conference. The Gym Leaders have already confirmed that they will take up the positions. One of the Elite Four has also decided to join._

 _If you decide to accept this position, please call us within two months of receiving this letter._

 _We sincerely hope that you will claim the title and become the Metria Champion. We have faith that under your leadership the Metria branch will flourish._

 _With kindest regards,_

 _Charles Goodshow_

 _President of the United Pokémon League_

 _P.S. All information on how to contact us is found on the backside of this letter._

 _P.P.S In the envelope you will find a card with the seal of the UPL, please bring it with you to the meeting._

Gurkinn smiled behind his cup of coffee. Who knew that Azure could end up as a champion?

* * *

Azure was running on the beach followed closely by her Espeon and Jolteon. She couldn't believe it. Was she going to be a Champion? And the first one of a region as well. That was just too weird for her to digest immediately. Running always seemed to clear her head, so she just let go.

She ran from the Tower of Mastery all the way to Route 12 and back. She had just passed the Pokémon Center when she heard Jolteon yip out a warning. She turned to look at him and ran into somebody. Literally ran into the poor soul. Her speed meant that somebody would fall down to the ground and because she was smaller, Azure got the short end of the stick.

She fell on her butt and was dazed for a bit. Her Pokémon immediately crowded her and made sure she wasn't hurt. A hand entered her vision and she gratefully took it when her head stopped spinning.

"I am so sorry for running into you. I wasn't watching where I was going." She apologized to the guy she had run into with a small bow. She scolded herself for not keeping an eye out for other people.

"It is fine, I think Altaria is angrier than I am, to be honest." A smooth voice reached her ears. She opened one eye to see laughing brown eyes hiding behind black and blue glasses. Surely enough an Altaria had landed beside the guy on the beach and was angrily chittering at her. The bird gestured to something down below Azure's vision.

She glanced down to see coffee stains on his gray shirt and an empty coffee cup in his hand, and she blushed in embarrassment at the sight. Could she be any more of a klutz?

"I am sorry about your coffee, how about I buy you another one as an apology?" She offered shyly.

He nodded with a laugh.

"Sure, let me get changed first." He grinned at her.

She gave a nod back and turned to Altaria. The majestic bird got her own apology and the five of them left for the Pokémon Center.

* * *

Half an hour later, they were seated at a café with a spectacular view of the Tower of Mastery.

"Here is your mocha, although I have no idea how you can drink that stuff in this heat." Azure placed the beverage down on the table and sat down on her own chair. There was a comfortable silence between the two trainers. Their Pokémon chatting in their own way to each other.

Azure was sipping her iced tea, lovingly gazing over her hometown. She gave a soft smile to the guy and realized that she hadn't introduced herself yet.

"I am Azure Shalour. Nice to meet you."

"My name is Spencer Finch. Um…Shalour as in the city?"

She nodded happily. "Yeah, my ancestors were the first to settle here and the city was named after my ancestor," She explained quickly.

He stuck out his hand for her to shake and the two fell into an easy conversation. They spoke of small things like the regions they had visited and what kind of Pokémon they raised.

Azure learned that Spencer was from Unova and preferred to use Dragon-type Pokémon like his Altaria. He was more interested in doing research than in battling, she thought it was a shame. Dragon-type Pokémon were incredibly strong if raised properly.

She told Spencer about her preference to use a balanced team and her dream of becoming a worldwide recognized trainer. He remarked that it was a tough dream to achieve, she just shrugged. It was closer than she had ever thought it could be.

"So, what brings you to Shalour City?" She asked.

"I came to Kalos to do a bit more research into Mega Evolution. I heard that this is where the first ever Pokémon mega-evolved and I wanted to know more about it. The sheer power that is unlocked is amazing to see." Spencer replied to her, his eyes crinkling happily when he thought about the possibilities.

Azure stifled when she heard that. She could have known that he was another one of those. Bloodhounds that wanted to achieve Mega Evolution. Just to say they were better. Her expression turned sour.

He noticed the change in her mood and was a bit confused about the sudden 180 it had done.

"What is wrong?" He inquired.

"Are you just another trainer looking to achieve a higher level of power? If so, I suggest you leave Mega Evolution alone. Shalour sees too many of many trainers that only want power not to be wary. They usually end up attacking a member of the Tower of Mastery in their quest to gain ownership of a Keystone." She said to him, idly stirring her iced tea with the straw.

"That is not what I meant. Look." He fished out a lanyard from underneath his shirt. Azure noticed a special edition shiny Flygon USB hanging from it, but why would he show her that?

"A USB drive? What should that prove to me?" She asked, feeling a bit puzzled by the thing. She looked him in the eye with a weird glint in her brown orbs.

He flushed and moved the USB out of the way to reveal a pendant hanging from the lanyard. Gingerly, she reached out with rising apprehension. She used two fingers to turn the pendant around and was strangely relieved to see a rainbow colored stone mounted in the iron framework.

She slowly traced it with her thumb before letting it hang from the lanyard again. Her gaze was pulled toward Altaria who was showing off the bird band that had its Mega Stone.

"You already have a keystone and an Altarianite. Why would you want to know more?" She asked, confused by the things she had been shown just yet.

"I want to know more about the origins of Mega Evolution. While Altaria and I are able to use it, we seem to be stuck at a certain level. And we can't surpass that level no matter what we try to do. Others always seem more powerful." Spencer looked sullen as he admitted it.

Azure looked at her Pokémon, conversing with them silently. She nodded after a minute and drank the rest of her tea. She stood up and extended her arm to him.

"Want to visit the Tower of Mastery?"

"Yeah, I would love to, but isn't it off limits to the general public?" Spencer was eager to go, despite to what he was saying to her and quickly finished off his drink.

"I am not the general public." She gave him a wink. She walked off, only to trip over a small rock. The locals seemed to be used to it and didn't pay it any mind. Spencer just shook his head and followed the enthusiastic girl.

* * *

Spencer hadn't even set one step into the Tower and was completely speechless. The sheer size was more than he had imagined before. And that statue was amazingly detailed.

"Come on Slowpoke. I want to show you my favorite spot." Azure was standing on the slope that led to the upper floors and Spencer hurried to follow her as she ran up the long slope.

He was out of breath when he reached the top of the spiral, his Altaria, and the Eeveelutions were laughing at him. Azure was bathing in the sun on the balcony of the Tower.

"This is the Tower of Mastery, the place where the first recorded Mega Evolution took place. The spot where trainers come to learn the secrets of Mega Evolution. Usually, we only let in those who have proven themselves worthy, but I'll make an exception for you." Her voice was light as she kept standing with her back to him. Her Espeon jumped up the railing and head-butted the girl on her arm, her Jolteon was looping around her legs.

"Thank you for doing that, but how is it that you are allowed to come here?" Spencer was taken aback by the merry tone of her voice. He then took in the spectacular view. He could see all the way to Coumarine City from here. Before he could step closer, she turned around. Another movement caught his eye. Altaria gave a squeak, the fluffy bird had seen it too.

"I am Azure Shalour, one of the descendants of the man who successfully Mega Evolved his Lucario 500 years ago. This island has been my home for as long as I can remember. I am one of the successors of Mega Evolution. You were lucky to run into me. Will you show me your bond with Altaria?"

Spencer could only nod as he processed the information.

"Altaria, you ready?" He asked the majestic bird. Altaria chirped affirmably and flew in front of him.

"Here we go, Altaria. Mega Evolve!" He held up the Keystone Pendant and multiple purple streams connected to the bird. Altaria glowed in a purple light and grew taller and the fluff expanded greatly.

Seconds later a paler version of Altaria with a lot of fluff was flying through the air, causing Azure to smile. Spencer observed her in an attempt to learn more about her.

She didn't show her emotions anymore, only a smile graced her lips. Her eyes were sharp but still kind. She lazily spun a Poké Ball on her finger, before grabbing it out of the air and lobbing it in the space between her and Altaria.

The light faded quickly to reveal a green and white knight-like Pokémon, that Spencer recognized as a Gallade.

"Gallade, shall we show them the power of Mega Evolution?" She softly asked of the Psychic-type.

"Gall." The Pokémon nodded and readied himself.

Azure grabbed the medallion that hung from a long chain and opened it to reveal a Keystone. Cradling it, she raised it in the air. Multiple colored strands connected her to Gallade and the Pokémon changed. He grew a cape and the blade on his arms grew longer and changed to a red color.

It was done and Spencer felt the need to gulp a little. Gallade looked fierce.

"Shall we proceed?" Azure gave a pleasant smile.

"Altaria, Dragon Pulse."

* * *

"I can't believe you beat Altaria so easily. Two hits and Altaria was out like a light." Spencer was sitting in the small room under the giant statue in the Tower of Mastery, nursing a cup of sweet iced tea. Azure was sitting next to him trying to hide her smile.

"At least, you were better than 98 percent that has tried it. You and Altaria just need more practice outside of battle, have Altaria become more comfortable in its movements. How long have you had the Altarianite? I thought you said about a year?" Azure asked.

Spencer nodded heavily. He had found it the last time he had been in Unova.

"How come you are so used to Gallade's Mega form?" He somberly asked the smiling girl.

"Well, what would you expect from someone who has been asked to serve as Metria's first champion?" Gurkinn appeared in the door opening and handed Altaria's Poké Ball back to a shocked Spencer.

"Wait what?" The younger man managed to get out.

"Grandpa!" Azure was mortified by Gurkinn's words and her face flushed completely red. "Don't go telling people you don't even know. Before you know it this information could be halfway across to Kanto."

"You should be proud of that. Not everyone can say that have that honor." Her grandfather retorted.

She hid her red face in her hands. Oh, she could just strangle her grandfather.

"You got an invitation too?"

Azure whipped around to look right into Spencer's brown eyes that were less than two inches away. She squealed and fell from her chair in her fright. Gurkinn started laughing heartily and helped her back up. She grumbled at him, but she still took his help.

Spencer dug around in his small bag and pulled out a similar letter. Azure's eyes grew big at the sight.

"What position were you offered?" She asked nervously. Her hands gripped her empty cup tightly. Her grandfather gently pried her fingers off the fragile cup.

"Don't break the poor cup."

She had the decency to look bashful.

"I think it was an Elite Four position, but I am not sure on the details. I thought that it was a joke." Spencer shrugged.

Azure shook her head. "No, this is not a joke. It was on the HoloNetwork this morning. No matter how much I dislike Malva, her reports are always spot on. Besides this is proof that it is from the UPL." She pointed at the stamp in the corner of the letter.

Spencer just hummed at her answer. He was undecided if he should believe her. She just sighed and stood up. Walking to her bag, she grabbed another envelope bearing the same stamp.

"This is a warning letter from the UPL. You get these when you blow up stuff you aren't supposed too. It has the same stamp." She handed it over to Spencer, who just looked at her funny.

"So, I blew up a portion of the battlefield of the Luminose Gym. It is no biggie." Azure snorted. Really, she had done worse to the Coumarine Gym.

Spencer just stared.

Azure rolled her eyes and waved at the letter. Spencer took his time to study both of the stamps and verify that they were the same.

"I think that I will take the position, at least for a few years. I can always resign if I don't like it, right?" Spencer was startled out of his musings and noticed Azure sitting on her chair with her legs drawn up to her chin.

"I think so. But why wouldn't you like it? I thought you said you wanted to become a world famous trainer." He asked confused by the sudden switch in moods.

"I want to, but I always thought I could do it without every challenging a League. A position like that takes up a huge part of your life. Not to mention that being a member of a League is a hazard to your health and sanity." She laughed softly at her own words.

"Then you will need people that you can trust with your life, won't you?" Spencer grinned. It was the first time she had seen him do it and boy, did he look dangerous. A shiver ran down her spine and she shivered at the thought of having him as an enemy.

"Yeah, I guess. Are you offering?" She smiled shyly at him.

"I will see you at the meeting."

At this, she gave him a blinding smile.

* * *

Five months later, Azure watched Kalos growing smaller by the second. She would miss her home region a lot, but it was time for a new chapter in her life.

"I am sorry, but you are looking a bit green around the gills. Is everything alright with you?" The passenger seated next to her asked.

She took a deep breath and turned to face the man next to her.

"I have some problems during take-off and landing, but I won't have trouble during the flight otherwise." She reassured him.

"I am Brent." He extended his hand to her and she grasped it softly.

"Azure. It is nice to meet you."

They chatted all the way to Metria, where a new adventure was waiting.


	2. First Meeting

I made it in time, woot. Enjoy the next chap, guys and let me know what you think.

This was actually a hard chapter to write, but I am pleased at the end result.

Chapter 2: First Meeting

* * *

Azure had been bored for the last few hours. The movie that had been screened in the plane had been amusing, The Riolu Girl was a huge hit with her cousins, but it couldn't alleviate her boredom at all. Brent had been a good conversation partner, if only he hadn't fallen asleep. She was itching to get out and take a run. But she couldn't.

She had settled for reading a gossip magazine to keep her busy. She would shake her head every so often when she read about another of the numerous, supposed love affairs of Wallace, or Janine's secret admirer. She did like the recipe column. Hm, strawberry shortcake. She looked to when she heard the intercom come to life.

"This is your captain speaking. We are going to land in about thirty minutes, so please place your seats back in its original position and fasten your seatbelt. It is currently 14:08 in Metria and the weather is nice and clear with a temperature of 82F or 28C." The loud voice came from the speakers and Azure closed her magazine, before putting it back where she found it.

She shook Brent awake, knowing from experience that landing while asleep was awful, to say the least. And his seat was angled backward.

"Wake up, Brent, the plane is going to land and you want to be awake for that." She said, poking him in the cheek.

"Awake…" Brent was a bit out of it but placed his seat upright.

He looked to the girl sitting next to him and she was massaging her temples. He could hear her chanting under her breath. "I am not going to puke, I am not going to puke, I am…" He just laughed at her.

She shot him a weak glare, before going back to her chanting.

"Bad experience before?" Brent asked amused.

"Landed in a thunderstorm. Turbulence was enough to make me throw up and ruin flying for me. I prefer the ferry, thank you very much." Azure scoffed at the reason why she went by plane. The UPL said that it was both cheaper and faster. Sure, and what about her opinion? Stupid officials.

She grumbled about it the entire way through the landing, not noticing that her earlier nausea was gone. Brent did notice and he grinned all the way to the baggage carousel.

They had to wait a while for their luggage to arrive. She was sitting on the cart that she had managed to commandeer. Brent shook his head at her and stretched a bit, stiff from the long sit in the plane.

Azure had managed to get her first suitcase, but the second one was playing hide-and-seek. Brent was waiting on her and was getting impatient. She shot him an annoyed look and rolled her eyes. It wasn't like she had chosen for it to not come.

It took a few more minutes before Azure saw her other suitcase. With a sigh, she grabbed it and walked after Brent to the exit. Once they were outside in the lobby, Azure turned to Brent.

"I think it is time to say goodbye to you, Brent. It was nice to meet you and good luck with your Fighting-types. I have to find my guide; he was supposed to be here already." She gave a smile, before extending her hand. He grabbed it and the two shook hands.

"My guide should be around here too. It was great to meet such a dedicated trainer. I hope to see you again." He grinned at her.

She waved goodbye to Brent and after disposing of her cart, she grabbed the card with the seal from her pocket and looked around to see if her guide was anywhere to be seen. While she didn't see the promised guide, she did see a familiar face sitting on a bench in the lobby. With a sly smile, she made her way to the familiar person.

"Bonjour, stranger." She whispered in Spencer's ear. He stiffened and then whirled around to face her. It took him a minute to recognize the grinning girl, but in the end, he got it. Her familiar gray eyes were enough to verify that it was Azure. He stood up and held out his arms.

She gave a toothy smile and launched herself at him. She squealed when he started swinging her around.

"Merde put me down, you doofus!" She laughed happily. She was placed down on the ground with a soft thud and she took a seat on the bench.

"When did you get here? My plane was the only one that has landed in the last hour. You stink, dude." She had sniffed the air to identify a smell and she wasn't pleased to discover that it was Spencer.

"I flew here from Hoenn. Flygon and I made it in record time. But I haven't had the time to freshen up yet." Spencer bragged a bit. Azure giggled at the funny face Spencer made when talking about his Flygon and the Mareepish expression afterward. She noticed that it was too quiet.

"Where is Altaria? I can't hear her chirping to me to watch out for the next pole on the path." She made a face at the memory. Well, she did avoid a painful collision.

"You think she likes it in here? Nope, she is outside bathing in the sunlight, while I am stuck here waiting for the guide that is running late." Spencer sat down next to Azure, cradling his head in his hands. They sat there in peaceful silence for minutes before a commotion at the entrance made them look up.

An official looking dude ran into the lobby and started furiously waving a sign with the UPL logo on it. Azure let out a laugh and stood up with Spencer to walk over. In the corner of her eyes, she could see Brent making his way to the man with the sign. Curious, she stopped walking and observed it for a bit.

Spencer noticed that she stopped moving and turned back to look at her. When she did nothing, he raised an eyebrow. She did see that and explained what made her stop.

"You see the dark-skinned tall guy walking toward our guide?" She gained a nod from her friend. "He sat next to me on the plane from Shalour City. He is a Fighting-type specialist that came to Korrina's gym to do some training."

"You think that he may join us?" Spencer asked the shorter girl. She nodded and started walking again.

"Good afternoon, you are the guide from the UPL?" Azure reached the man shortly after Brent had done so and showed the two men her card with the seal.

Brent was surprised by the appearance of the girl and even more so with the fact she was holding out the seal card of the UPL.

She turned to him with a wry smile.

"I should have known that you were invited to this. Strong specialty trainers are hard to come by."

Spencer had joined the group and the guide was getting impatient.

"Alright, everyone is here. We can go on to Corona City where the meeting is held at four. Please come along." He started herding them to the exit, grabbing one of Azure's suitcases in order to make them go faster.

* * *

"Ah, lady Azure. How lovely it is to see you again." An elderly man with a nice full beard was seated at a big oval table and greeted the woman that walked inside. She was clothed in black pants and a baby blue blouse. Her two-inch heels clicked heavily on the parquet floor. Espeon just trotted along with her trainer.

"I couldn't agree more, Mr. Goodshow. I think it has been almost a year since we last met. Matthew, Joey, good to see you again." Azure nodded to Mr. Goodshow's aides that were walking around to make sure everything was in order for the meeting. They gave her a smile and continued their work.

"Was the trip not too hard on you? I recall that you said that you have a problem with flying." Mr. Goodshow inquired. He waved his hand to indicate that she should take a seat at the other end of the table, the one across from him. She did so and then answered the question. Espeon jumped on her lap and curled up.

"Surprisingly, I had little trouble this time, but it could have been because Brent distracted me from my problem." She gave a soft smile.

"That is good. The others should be coming in soon and then the meeting will start. How about you take a look at your people's files?" Mr. Goodshow waved his hand and one of the aids handed her a stack of files. They contained profiles and photos of the candidates, Azure closed them after scanning through them quickly. How odd that all regions were represented. Even Metria had a candidate.

She waited for Mr. Goodshow to start speaking; she was surprised to hear the doors opening again and men walking into the meeting room followed by two Pokémon. She knew Altaria very well, but the mighty Absol was a surprise. A noticeably cleaner Spencer took a seat on her left and Altaria sat on the back of Azure's chair to greet her. Espeon jumped from her lap to sit on the armrest and talk to Altaria.

Azure was joined on the other side by a dude with platinum white hair, jade-colored eyes and aside from his gray shirt clothed in black, his partner was the mighty-looking Absol.

A more sullen looking boy sat next to Spencer. Azure didn't know what to think about him. The boy had black hair, was tall, but he had almost glowing crimson eyes. He noticed her observing him and she gained a shallow nod that she returned.

"Almost everyone that is necessary for the first part of the meeting is here, but we still need the fourth member of the Elite Four to appear. Where is young Taku?" Goodshow asked the closest aide. The aide didn't know, but would go and find out.

A few minutes after he left, the doors slammed open and a young girl rushed in followed on the foot by a Mawile. She sounded like she had run the mile in a minute and was sprouting excuses as she took big steps towards the table in the middle of the room.

These guys wouldn't let me in because they think that I look like a child and it took a while to convin…" The black-haired girl tripped over the edge of the carpet and fell onto the floor. Lucky for the short girl, her fall was cushioned by the same carpet that she tripped over.

"Oh, fluffy." She commented. She was blushing in embarrassment and Azure felt bad for the young girl. Quickly, she stood up again and seated herself in the chair next to the trainer with the Absol.

No one laughed at the poor girl's mishap. But the boy with the black hair scoffed and opened his mouth. Azure was dreading the comment.

"That was a great entrance, are you sure that you should be here?" He gave a nasty look at the small girl, who cringed and looked down to get away from his gaze.

Azure narrowed her eyes but remained silent. Drawing herself up to her full height, she made herself comfortable in her chair. As she reached out for her glass of water, she listened carefully to the other people in the room. Spencer was talking with his neighbor and her other neighbor was flirting with the red-faced Taku.

"Lovely. Now that we are all here, I think that it is time to start the meeting." President Goodshow stood up to address the five trainers.

Goodshow started talking, accentuating his words with big movements.

"As all five of you know, we of the United Pokémon League are setting up a branch here in Metria. This is to promote peace between the regions and to ensure the safety of the people living here. Of course, it is also an opportunity to show the strength of the region and to improve the economy. We expect the best from each and all of you as long as you serve under Metria's Champion and the UPL." His heavy gaze glided over the people present. Each of them sat up straighter as the seriousness of their situation started to sink in.

"The Champion will take over from here as is their right, but if there are any questions I will be glad to answer them. Champion Shalour, please take it away." President Goodshow leaned back in his chair.

Azure nodded to him and rose from her chair, drawing the attention from the other people in the room.

"I am Azure Shalour. You are all here because you have been chosen to serve directly under me as my Elite Four." She could see the sceptic looks appearing on the faces of the two men. She pretended not to notice them.

"Max, you are a great strategist and your mastery of flying types is frightening to behold, but I have a feeling that there is more than that." He waved his hand sarcastically in the air and Azure allowed him to interrupt.

"My name is Max Jackson, but call me Alex Joseph in public. If you must address me at all." Azure interrupted him here. A shift in the air was seen in the air behind him and a Zoroark appeared in the previously empty space. Zoroark could be seen for a few seconds before disappearing again.

"Why is that if I may ask?" She looked straight into his red eyes and didn't flinch when they narrowed at her.

"I dislike publicity." Azure nodded. That was a fair enough reason. She waved at him to continue while making a note in Max's file about both his preference and his partner.

"Greyson, you are a master of Dark-types. And I heard that wild Pokémon are as tame as a Mareep when you are around. I implore you to keep your Pokémon on a leash while we are at official meetings. We don't need chaos at a time like that." Grey scoffed but confirmed he would try.

"Spencer, you are a researcher at heart and yet have managed to tame the dragons. You, my friend, will have to stay on top of them, in case they want to make a ruckus." Spencer nodded heavily; he knew that his beloved dragons could cause a lot of destruction.

"Taku. You are a powerhouse in the making. While you may not have as much experience as we do, you have powerful Pokémon that would destroy the world for you. And you have the honor of being the sole person to represent Metria. Believe in your own strength." Taku nodded shyly. The black haired girl gave her partner a grateful look for being there for her, before sitting up straighter.

"You are all wonderful trainers in your own right and I feel blessed to have you, but I can't decide on what to do with you. You all have your own strengths and weaknesses." She held up her hand to stop Greyson from talking.

"I do not have a good enough grasp on them and therefore, I will not assign ranks to you. You can figure it out for yourselves, either now or later in battle." It had been the fairest that she had been able to come up with and she could see them nodding at the thought of proving themselves. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued.

"At 5:30 we are holding a press conference to introduce the league to the public and I need your help deciding which gym leader deserves what rank. We have to be done with this before the gym leaders come at 4:30." She waved her hand to Matthew and he gave the same stack of papers she had been handed earlier to the members of the Elite Four.

To her surprise, it was Max that started to go through them almost faster than she could keep up with. Spencer, Grey and Taku just pursued them at a normal pace.

Azure would suggest a person and listen to the comments. It took some time but they managed to get the recommendation ranks assigned to the aspiring gym leaders with little arguments. The little quips from Goodshow made them laugh on several occasions, even Max had managed to grin a little.

* * *

It was 4:30 exactly and Azure counted sixteen people in the room, including herself.

She could recognize each and every one of them. Sophia and her Gardevoir Grace were sitting next to Anthony and his Gengar, softly speaking to each other about small things. Verde and Peter were sitting silently next to their partners Leafeon and Sheldon the Shieldon.

Then you had President Goodshow and his trusty aides separating the gym leaders. The other side of the table held Brent with his Toxicroak, Molly with a Pikachu, Solomon and his Scyther, and last but not least, Kyle with Azumarill.

Azure could feel Spencer's hand grabbing hers in an attempt to soothe her nerves. It worked to a small extent and she squeezed back reassuringly. For the second time that day, she rose from her chair and the room fell silent.

"Welcome to the first meeting of the complete Metria League. I am Azure Shalour. These people," She gestured to Max, Spencer, Grey, and Taku. "Are taking up the positions of the Elite Four." Soft applause could be heard from the aspirant gym leaders. Azure smiled Mareepishly and waved her hands in an attempt to get things to quiet down.

It worked and she continued.

"You have all been here in the region for about a week and must be curious about the position of your gym. They were decided by me and the Elite Four, based on your profiles and most used Pokémon. The gym rankings are on the list before you. Feel free to take a look." Flipping the lists before them open, the gym leaders were quiet for a moment. Then all hell broke loose. The gym leaders started talking through each other in an attempt to get Azure to change her mind about the rankings. When the racket didn't stop, Max slammed his hands on the table. A loud bang was heard and the gym leaders fell silent.

"Enough, these positions are a recommendation for now. If a gym does better than another, we will arrange for a switch in the recommendations." Azure spoke after shooting a grateful look at Max, who just shrugged it off.

"The official announcement will be made in the grand hall in about 35 minutes, please be on time and presentable. You may do as you wish in the time that is left."

With these words, Azure ended the meeting early and she left the room with Espeon in tow. The noise of her heels faded away in the distance. The Elite Four made their way outside after her, Max and Spencer talking about Mega Evolution research and Taku and Grey were silently walking beside their partners.

The gym leaders were left in the meeting room, wondering about how the press meeting was going to go.

* * *

Flashes of light were all Azure could see as she stood behind President Goodshow on the elevated part of the platform, the others stood about two feet below them. Each of them was smiling for the photographers, even Max and Grey put on a slight grimace.

Mr. Goodshow cleared his throat and started speaking in a slow, but powerful voice.

"We of the UPL are proud to announce the birth of a new branch. These thirteen trainers have made it possible for us to finally proclaim that the formation of the Metria league has come to an end and they will serve this region with pride and skill. They have trained long and hard to do their job. They will take their places in their cities at the end of the week." President Goodshow smiled softly as he saw the trainers stand taller. He nodded before speaking again.

"As much as I would like to introduce them, I think it would be best to let the champion do it herself. I present to you Azure, the first Champion of Metria." As she stepped forward, gasps were heard from several reporters. They remembered her from the Conferences in other regions. Her gray eyes were soft and calm. No hint of nerves could be seen as she descended the stairs to the lower part of the platform. Her long braid whipped around her and Espeon was already waiting for her in the middle of the stage. Well-aware that the reporters would have a lot of questions, Azure began to speak.

"Please, I ask you to wait with any questions you may have, until I have introduced our League members to you." She gave a smile and started speaking seemingly unaware of the flashes that were going off.

"I would like to thank those that have left their region in order to come here and take a position. All but one of the people standing here before you, come from other regions. Like the League's we have grown up with, that we admired for their strength, wisdom, and courage in the face of our region's time of need, we hope to become Metria's light in dark times. We hope to be the strength that keeps Metria safe. We will try our hardest to make sure Metria will never fall to the dark." This was met with wild applause from the audience. Azure looked straight forward to the cameras.

"We know that Metria was a region without a League for many years and that this will be a life-changing experience for most of you. Anything we set our eyes on is possible, and that's something we should not lose sight of. Our inspiration and the permission to dream big is huge. Trainers will flock to Metria in an attempt to measure our strength in battle and we welcome them to do it." Her speech well received by her audience, Azure went on to introduce her gym leaders.

"Verde shall take up the post of the Lyra Town gym leader." Verde stepped forward with her partner Leafeon and waved stoically to the crowd, her long green hair swishing behind her and her amber eyes sparkled suspiciously. She brushed her bangs out of her face with a nonchalant swipe of her hand.

"Peter will take the post of Pyxis Town gym leader." Peter was a young man clothed in maroon, sleeveless jacket with white fur sticking from the collar, dark grey jeans and boots with fingerless gloves. His red hair blended in nicely with his outfit and his Shieldon was excitedly running circles around his trainer's feet.

"Musca City gym will be the new home of Solomon." Solomon just waved from his spot with a wide grin on his face. He flexed his muscles making lots of girls swoon a bit. His Scyther hovered beside him, his swords crossed over each other.

"Carina Town gym will host Kyle." A boy walked to the front of the stage and gave the crowd a warm smile. His white skin, medium-length hair dyed pink, pink-and-white shirt, and white skirt got some comments, but more people were cooing about the adorable Azumarill that accompanied him.

"Sophia will be Tucana Valley's gym leader." Sophia stepped forward with her Gardevoir and gave a small curtsy to the public with a stoic expression on her face. Her straight, dark brown hair and bangs held back by a violet headband and her light violet colored eyes were serene. Her light purple dress swayed with her hips as she walked back to her spot.

"Brent and Toxicroak will see Ursa Town's gym as home after this week." Tan skin became a bit reddish as he was trust in the spotlight, but Brent's brown eyes were filled with pride. As he waved to the crowd his copper ring on his left hand was visible to all. The unmistakable colors of a Keystone were seen.

"Molly will travel to Cetus Town and set up the gym there." Blue eyes peeked out from underneath a yellow hood and Molly pulled it off to reveal her Pikachu sitting on top of her brown hair. The two made some weird poses in front of the cameras before stepping back in line.

"And our last gym leader, Anthony, will take up the post as Orion City's gym leader." Anthony's pale white skin was in stark contrast to his black hair, and gray eyes. He and Gengar held it short by bowing for the public and then stepping back.

Azure took a deep breath, enjoying the excited atmosphere to the fullest. The gym leaders were well received by all and now it was time to introduce the Elite Four.

"And now I'll introduce to you Metria's Elite Four. First up, is Grey. Our Dark-type Elite Four Member." Grey's green eyes shone with mischievous thoughts and as he made his bow, his long white hair fell in his eyes. Absol stood proudly beside his trainer.

"Then we have Taku, The Steel specialist." Taku waved shyly as she fidgeted with her grayish-silver coat. Her Mawile Maya tugged softly on her coat and the two went forward to take a bow. Her combat boots made no noise as she walked.

"Spencer, the Dragon-type Elite Four Member." Spencer came forward with Altaria on his shoulder and she spread her fluffy wings when she was presented to the crowd. This earned her a lot of admiring looks of the females in the room. Spencer muttered something about her being a diva, as he stepped back.

"And lastly, Alex, as the last Elite Four member." Max shot a small glare at her, before making a quick bow. Azure was merely amused to see his now brown eyes shifting around looking for an exit.

"I am Azure. And these trainers will serve with me as Metria's League."


	3. Races, Contest, and Mishaps

Happy April fools day! This is not a joke, this is the real chapter. It was hard to write though with everything that happened in it. Hope you'll forgive me for small mistakes. Happy reading!

Chapter 3: Races, Contests, and Mishaps

* * *

 _Auriga Daily_

 _Metria League members revealed to World_

 _Yesterday at 5:30 PM a press conference was scheduled at the League building in Corona City. To our great surprise, the formation of the new League branch had come to an end and we were introduced by President Goodshow of the United Pokémon League to the first members of Metria's League._

 _Champion Azure Shalour was the first to be introduced by name to the masses. Azure Shalour is a distinguished trainer from Shalour City , Kalos. This Kalosian trainer has a lot of Conference victories under her belt. One of her more memorable fights was fought at the Silver Conference three years ago, where her Salamence blew up the complete field in the last clash of the battle. It took three weeks to repair all the damage._

 _Champion Azure went on to introduce her gym leaders and Elite Four. In total, eight elemental specialists from all over the League regions will be taking on the mantle of Metria gym leader. After some speculation based on the partner they had with them and where they come from, we have made some educated guesses on what type they could be specializing in._

 _Lyra Town's Verde Konoha is a Grass-type specialist from Lacunosa Town, Unova. This young woman stood on the stage yesterday accompanied by her Leafeon. Gym leader Peter Rocke is a master of Rock-type Pokémon from Oreburgh City, Sinnoh. His Shieldon paving the way for a peaceful takeover of Pyxis City. Solomon Bladesworth from Castelia City, Unova will take over Musca City with his Bug-types, his Scyther certainly seems capable enough to take out some tough trainers._

 _Kyle Shepard's Fairies will certainly do well in the port of Carina Town. Despite his sense of fashion, his Azumarill charmed the audience within seconds. Sophia and her partner Grace from Mossdeep City, Hoenn will show off the power of Psychic-types in Tucana Valley. As fourth and fifth in the line-up, they are certain to be a challenge._

 _To round out the gym leaders, adventurer Brent heads the Ursa City gym with his Fighting-types. He comes from Veilstone City and has trained with Toxicroak in several gyms that use the same type to prepare for his own gym. Molly Tsukari will use her Electric-types in Cetus Shore. To our great surprise, her partner Pikachu appeared from her hoodie, we have no idea how she was able to hide the Electric-type. Anthony Mayright reigns the gyms with his Ghosts in Orion City. He is from Lavender Town in Kanto and his partner Gengar seems like one tough cookie to beat._

 _Spencer Finch, Alex Joseph, Greyson Wolfe and Taku make up the Elite Four under Champion Azure. They are masters of the Dragon-, Flying-, Dark-, and Steel-type respectively. The youngest of the bunch, Taku is a native of Metria and will be representing us in the League. The other members of the Elite Four come from Unova, Kalos, and Kanto. We of the Auriga Daily, wish them luck in their new lives._

* * *

Azure walked into the kitchen, smiling as she read the newspaper the morning after the press conference. Holding the paper in her hands, she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and unscrewed the cap. She was disappointed with the fact that the paper correctly speculated on the types of the gym leaders. She had hoped to keep it a secret, so the first trainers would have a surprise. Taking small sips, she admired the photo's that had made it into the paper.

There was a picture of her and the Elite Four standing on the higher platform, with the gym leaders in front of them. One of the gym leaders alone, each grinning like fools with their partners beside them and one of the Elite Four with their partners. She gave a wry smile and made a note to ask for a large copy of the first photo to hang in her office.

Azure heard someone shuffle into the large kitchen and looked up from her paper. It was a sleepy Taku that came into the room, all dressed for the long day ahead. She gave a small wave and turned back to the paper in her hand. Leaning against the counter, Azure stretched out. Her arms gave a loud pop and she let out a sigh of relief.

Azure and Taku sat in the kitchen for another ten minutes, before someone else came in. Spencer appeared in the door opening. Groggy and barely awake he stumbled into the room and opened the cabinets in search of some granola. It wasn't until he sat down that the girls got a grumbled good morning.

Azure smiled as one by one the League members came in the room in search of something edible. The last one to enter was Max, but the flying-type trainer didn't look like he just woke up. He was acting a bit shifty and Azure resolved to keep an eye on him.

When everyone was settled in their own way, Azure stood up to address them.

"Good morning everyone, I hope you had a good night's sleep." This was met with a variety of answers, some good, some less. All of them were looking at her with sleepy eyes.

Azure chuckled in response to them.

"Oh well, I wanted to go through the schedule of the next few days. As was said yesterday, the gym leaders will not open their respective gyms until next week. We will use this time to get to know each other better. I suggest two days off to do as you please and then in the last few days we could compete in some friendly competitions. Does that sound alright?" She gave a happy smile as most of the people agreed with her.

Peter and Brent started speculating about a possible fighting event. Peter was making huge gestures in his excitement, while Brent chuckled at the younger man. Sophia and Kyle looked excited to be able to show of the elegance and beauty of their Pokémon. Verde didn't pay as much attention to her boss as she did to her breakfast. The others stayed focused on their boss as she wasn't finished yet.

"I have lined up some events to choose from. Feel free to pursue them and enter at your own leisure, I will get them tomorrow. Be aware that only one Pokémon may be entered into an event. The reason why I am passing them out now is because we will have an appeal event, so you have some time to practice." She passed out the lists and left the kitchen to do some work. Before walking out, she looked back and told them the swimming event would be the first to take place.

The papers were immediately passed out and events were quickly decided on. The ones that were going to enter in the contest part quickly ate their breakfast and rushed out to get some practice in.

* * *

It was two days later when the league members were all gathered in the main stadium, waiting until Azure would make her appearance.

She strode onto the field dressed in nothing more than a pair of shorts and a loose dress shirt. A towel was thrown over her shoulder and walking next to her was Gallade carrying a stack of towels. Azure just rolled her eyes as she eyed the stack in Gallade's arms.

"Good morning, everybody. I hope everyone is feeling up to doing the events today, as it promises to be a lovely day." Azure gave everyone a bright smile and waved as she approached them. They greeted her, all excited for the long day ahead.

"So where are we going to do the swimming event, Azure? We have no large bodies of water around here unless you count the sea." Solomon asked.

Azure raised a special remote and clicked a series of buttons.

"You might want to get of the battlefield." She gave as a warning. The ground under the trainers started moving and they quickly vacated their spot. The battlefield parted to reveal a basin of water.

"Of course, the main stadium would have a changeable battlefield," Max remarked as he stared at the water.

Azure heard him and responded.

"Yeah, I think it is really neat. We have a water basin that has retractable platforms, so we can use it as a swimming pool, a rocky field, a grass field and a normal field. I heard that they had plans to add more in the future, but I think this is all we will ever need." She shrugged and started undressing, revealing a black sports bikini.

Grey nodded approvingly at the sight of good-looking women dressed in nothing but a two-piece swimsuit. Molly was wearing a yellow two-piece with brown polka dots. Taku was wearing a grey colored top with a black bottom. He wondered if maybe Sophia would enter too and turned to ask her.

There he was met with the sight of Solomon standing in a bright green speedo. A speedo that was a bit too much on the tight side. Grey had to fight the urge to vomit, as the green haired man was showing off his muscles to Sophia. She was backing up a bit awkwardly into a furious looking Anthony.

As he took deep breaths, he calmed down a bit. Suddenly, Grey felt a cool hand being placed on his forehead. Slowly, he looked up to see Azure standing in front of him, with a worried look on her soft face.

"Are you alright? You look a bit sick." She asked softly. Grey couldn't help but glance down and liked what he saw. She was all woman, alright.

"I am fine now that you are here." He gave her a toothy grin and she blushed a bit in response. She quickly dropped her hand in her haste to get away from Grey's piercing green eyes and grabbed Solomon by the ear, pulling him away from Sophia. She dragged him to the pool before explaining the rules for the event.

"Alright, we have to get to the other side and back while dodging the platforms that will pop up. Spencer, you know how it works, right?" She looked at the Dragon-type master and he nodded. The participants line-up at the edge of the pool and waited for the sign that they could start.

Peter stood next to Spencer and counted down.

"Three, two," The four trainers tensed in anticipation. "ONE, GO!"

They dove into the water, as soon as they heard Peter shout out go. The water was freezing and Azure was certain that it was supposed to be a normal temperature. She could hear Taku cry out about the coldness of the water.

Azure took the early lead in the race. She had the advantage over the shorter girls. She saw the first pillars rising up and quickly changed course to avoid a head on collision. She managed to avoid all pillars and saw the other edge of the pool. Ecstatic, she sped up a bit.

She was passed suddenly by Molly, who just laid back on the water and went by with cruising speeds. Azure stopped to look at the weird spectacle when she heard yells about the fact that Solomon had disappeared under water and didn't reappear. Cursing, she went back to find him. She passed Taku on her way back to the halfway point. The small girl was having a bad problem with her chattering teeth, but she persevered and bravely kept on swimming the best she could.

Azure reached the point when Solomon had gone under and with a deep breath she dove. She was joined by a Gyarados, who allowed her to latch on to get deeper faster. She found Solomon quickly and with the help from the huge Water Pokémon she was able to bring him back to the surface. Brent and Peter pulled him out of the water and Max petted his Pokémon absentmindedly. When Azure was sure that Solomon Would have no further problems, she dived back into the pool to get back in the race.

Knowing that she would never manage to pass Molly again, she set her mind on trying to at least get Taku back in her vision. She wasn't able to do that either. She reached the three-quarter mark and was informed by Spencer that Molly and Taku had already finished. She just pulled herself from the pool and grabbed her towel from Gallade.

"Good race. And congrats on your win Molly." Azure shook hands with her fellow participants before checking in on Solomon. She found Max poking him on his cheeks and muttering unflattering things. She just shook her head and asked the participants of the Flying Race to get ready to begin.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the swimmers had changed into some warmer clothes. They were all gathered outside the main stadium and were eager to start the new event. Solomon was sulking at the edge of the group with Molly patting/hitting… him on the back to comfort him. The participants had their Pokémon out already and Azure admired the group of Flying-types that were ready to start.

Max was standing next to his Pidgeot discussing some strategies. Grey was jumping around his Hydreigon, speaking quickly and the big Pokémon just nodded at his trainer in response. Taku was petting her Skarmory Morty, nervous about the race. Spencer just stood next to his Flygon, full of confidence that he would win the race with ease. Anthony and Gengar were stretching to be able to move at full speed. And Kyle was brushing his Togekiss.

Azure had no idea why he was doing that, but she released her own Flying-type and jumped on his back.

"Are you ready?" She asked the dragon. Salamence was glad he could have some time to fly with his trainer and gave an affirmative roar that pulled the attention of the League members.

"Take to skies. We are starting in a minute." The trainers quickly gave some last minute advice and let their Pokémon line up in the air.

Only three trainers had opted to join Azure in the skies to watch the race. Spencer joined her with his own Salamence while Max and his Charizard flew lazy circles around them. Taku and Maya the Mawile were seated on Magus, the imposing Metagross of the Steel-type trainer.

"The course is around the four outer stadiums and then back to here," Azure told the waiting Pokémon. Knowing that they were all ready, she gave the signal and the Pokémon were off. As expected, Flygon took the lead raising his speed with a well-executed Agility. He was followed by Pidgeot and Hydreigon. Skarmory took the rear with Togekiss and Gengar in the middle.

The Pokémon flew in this formation to the first stadium. The first aerial battle commenced and Togekiss used an Aerial Ace to win some space and get closer to the three in front, leaving Gengar alone. The Fairy-type bashed hard in the side of Hydreigon, throwing the big lug off course enough that the smaller Pokémon could sneak past. Gengar made use of the distraction Togekiss provided to fire off some Shadow Balls at Flygon. It had little effect as Flygon noticed them and rolled to avoid the nasty Shadow Balls.

Steadily, the Pokémon made their way to the second stadium where Pidgeot started to speed up. Flying above the others, the majestic bird used Tailwind to increase its speed with an Agility following swiftly. It took over the lead from Flygon. Togekiss noticed the change in wind streams and slipped into the Windstream.

The others started to struggle to keep up and they started fighting with themselves to gain even the smallest amount of advantage they could get.

"It seems that Togekiss will make it into the top three. Pidgeot has taken the lead!" Taku shouted to the spectators on the ground. All of them were taking in the race with its ever changing positions. Currently, it was Pidgeot, Togekiss, Flygon, with the others following a bit behind. Morty the Skarmory had waited for an opportune moment and passed Gengar, who was having trouble keeping up with the faster Flying-types.

The struggles continued to the last stretch, that is where Togekiss started to lag behind Pidgeot. Flygon made use it and passed the smaller Pokémon quickly. Pidgeot used a Quick Attack to maintain its lead and crossed the finish line as first, causing Max to grin. He urged Charizard to land and the others went with them to greet the Pokémon as they made it to the finish.

Some of the trainers were pleased and some a bit disappointed. Azure just smiled and went to the next location on Salamence.

* * *

The other events went by quickly, the obstacle course was fun to watch. The agile Pokémon were chased by Azure's Weavile and Gallade, who froze stuff at random, shoot some nasty attacks or would block off certain paths. As the participants weren't allowed to use any abilities, it came down to sheer skill.

Grey's Greninja won by a hair length in front of Molly's Pachirisu, who was closely followed by Verde's Leafeon. The smaller Pokémon had been at an advantage as they were able to slip through the harder obstacles. Max's Zoroark, and Taku's Scizor had problems with their size, catching more attacks from Weavile and Gallade. Brent's Hawlucha had run into an ice wall, losing a lot of time trying to get its bearings back.

Then they did the demolition event. Azure had found some big rocks that still needed to be destroyed on her run that the first day. They were standing in the middle of a clearing that was supposed to be a flat field and Azure thought that this could be a nice solution to the problem the boulders posed. Not that she was going to tell the League members that.

It didn't take long before the first stone was completely gone, courtesy of Taku's Aggron. Azure had just given the starting signal and then a loud crash was heard coming from where Taku had been standing, scaring the crap out of many of the spectators and even some of the other participants. The girl was apologizing profusely as her Aggron had slugged it once and the boulder just fell apart like wood. There was only rubble left.

She won the event with Aggron, Max and Charizard had managed to find a weak spot and obliterated their boulder a good while before Anthony's Golurk managed to blow up his stone, raining small bits of rock onto the others. Grey's Hydreigon finished as fourth, barraging the boulder with Hyper Beams, Brent's partner Toxicroak was fifth and Solomon's Scolipede melted through parts of the rock with its strong venom. Azure then thought it was a good idea to give the Bug/Poison-type a wide berth in the future.

The targets round was won by Sophia's Gardevoir Grace, who hit the targets perfectly in a matter of seconds. Molly's Pikachu has gone last, but it had destroyed the targets, making it impossible to determine where the Discharges had hit. It had been the fastest, so Azure awarded the two a second place. Greninja had gotten third place with nine perfect hits and one slightly to the left of the mark. Brent and his Lucario came up next with the same amount of hits, in just a bit more time. Magus and Taku got the fifth place with a respectable eight hits.

* * *

They took a small break to lunch and as entertainment, Azure asked the trainers that wanted to, to do their appeal for the small contest event. The event had a surprising line-up, as Spencer and Altaria went first. It was a typical Flying-type appeal spiced up with a few sound-based moves that enchanted the girls in the audience. Altaria flew over the crowd with a beautiful trail of music notes following behind her as she used Aerial Ace to make them change colors rapidly.

Taku and Maya the Mawile made a simple appeal that ended with pretty silver sparkles floating down on the stage. Grey and Greninja put on a good-looking water show with the signature move Water Shuriken as the main part of the appeal. When it was time to cut off the power from the moves, it went wrong and Peter was doused with a nice shower. It took some time to calm him down and make sure he didn't throttle Grey.

And then there was Max. Well, Max had an interesting appeal.

He got on the make shift stage and stared at everyone with a hidden smirk. He raised two fingers and his Zoroark appeared next to him. A gesture from the black fox made two trees appear on the stage. Each of them beginning to grow and sprouted beautiful autumn-colored leaves before they began to burn in strange ways. The flames changed colors every few seconds. Soon enough the trees burned down and Max stood in the middle of the flaming piles of debris. It began floating and formed the words "This is what I think of contests." He was smirking all the while.

Azure slammed her palm on her forehead with an audible smack and gestured for the Flying-trainer to leave the stage.

Sophia had a nice appeal with no mishaps, but there wasn't much personality in her appeal with Grace. Azure found it to be rather bland. It was pretty and showed of Gardevoir's mastery over her moves, but it didn't feel special. The standard Magical Leaf coupled with Psychic to make them dance on the stage. And the finisher was a well-executed Moonblast to make the leaves shine brightly. Still, Azure clapped for the fact that nothing went wrong.

Kyle and Azumarill set a perfect example of an appeal on the stage. Azumarill started with a soft Whirlpool that started to grow in strength as the appeal went on. The Water Pokémon surfed on the surface of its twister and used Bubblebeam in the air creating a vortex of bubbles of various sizes that gleamed in the air. To finish off Azumarill used Ice beam to freeze the bubbles and then shattered them with the swirling Whirlpool, causing multi-colored sparkles to fall.

In the end, Azumarill and Kyle won, Spencer and Altaria took second, Sophia got third and Max got banned from doing anything contest related for three months.

* * *

Azure had enjoyed running since she was young and still ran for about an hour with her Pokémon before she would start her day, whenever she could. That she would participate in the running event shouldn't be that much of a surprise to Spencer. But here he was, surprised and sitting on the back of his Flygon watching her maintain a solid lead over the others. Her Jolteon was acting as her running partner and it was jumping around her making her laugh.

He could see the five trainers run towards the main stadium where they would circle around and return to the obstacle course. Solomon was starting to lag behind and Spencer had the inkling that he only joined to show off. His Beedrill was poking at Solomon's feet to urge him to continue.

Antony kept up a good tempo, his own partner Gengar supported him and he was the second to reach the main stadium and start the second part of the run. Max and Peter were following him closely, both of them choosing not to take a Pokémon with them. Spencer checked if the competitor weren't cheating and flew back to the finish line.

Azure increased the lead she had and crossed the finish line as first. She was handed a bottle of water by Grey who congratulated her on her victory. Azure waved it off with a red face. It was nothing special. Antony finished a minute later and Peter crossed the finish line as third. Max followed with a bored face and Solomon was completely out of it when he finally crossed the line.

Then the last event followed as scheduled. The sparring event.

* * *

Four guys had signed up and Azure didn't feel like watching at all, but still she took place in the audience that wished to watch, as it was she who had come up with the events in the first place. The others had opted to go back to the main stadium and take a dive in the pool since the sun was beating down on them harshly. Azure ended up sitting next to Solomon and Kyle.

Peter faced off against Grey in the first round. The two men were well suited to fight each other and it looked more like a dance than a fight. One attacked and the other evaded. A low sweep and a jump. A punch and sidestep. It was over in one punch as Peter managed to punch Grey on the temple and the white haired man fell on the floor clutching his head. Azure immediately rushed over and examined him. He would have a headache for the rest of that day and probably tomorrow.

The second match was between Max and Brent. Brent was stronger and bigger, but Max was more flexible and relied more on countering and getting smaller hits on very painful places. It took some time, but eventually Brent took home the victory by punching Max in the stomach. It lifted the younger man of his feet and threw him back, at least, a few feet. Max had no time to get back up before Brent was there and out him in a choke-hold.

"Man, you did well. Want to spar another time after I settle at the gym? You would be welcome anytime." Brent gave a booming laugh as he slapped a sore Max on the back. Max gave a short nod in response and left to nurse his sore stomach.

Brent and Peter ended up in a similar fight as Brent had had with Max. Only Peter was used to take an accidental hit from his Rock-types and it took a bit longer to wear him down to the point that he gave up. Peter got the same offer as Max and he too took it, albeit he had a smile on his face as he did so.

* * *

Azure stared out of her office window. The events of the day were over and she had a better idea of who her people were as a person and trainer. Most of the gym leaders had opted to leave a bit early and get settled into their cities as soon as possible. Anthony and Verde would be the only ones staying for another couple days as their gyms were closer to Corona City.

She looked at the main stadium. Tomorrow it would see its first used as a battle stadium when the Elite Four would decide their inner rankings. She was looking forward to it. It should prove interesting.


	4. Battle for the Elite!

Oh yeah, new chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter 4: Battle for the Elite!

* * *

Azure was in her office, reading the files that she had gotten from the president of the UPL. She had asked Max to come up to her office as soon as he could, but she guessed that it would take a while.

She shoot a fond look at her Espeon and Jolteon, who were lying in their baskets in the corner of her office. The two were resting after their morning run. Azure could only shake her head when Jolteon's paws moved around and hit Espeon on her tail. The Psychic-type lashed out with her tail, hitting the Electric-type on the nose and he let out a whine.

Turning to grab a pen, she knocked Taku's file of the cherry wood desk. She hissed softly, as she saw that all the papers were floating around. With a sigh, she got up from her comfy chair and started gathering the pieces of paper. She had found them all, except for the page that held Taku's personal information.

Maybe it had found its way under her desk? She crawled under her desk to search for the missing paper when knocks were heard. Her first instinct was to raise her head and it slammed into the underside of her desk. She let out a yelp and pressed her hands on her head to suppress the pain.

The doors slammed open and Spencer ran in. Azure peeked over the edge of her desk, still pressing her hands on the sore spot.

He breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to her. She sat back in her chair and decided to look for the missing piece of paper later. First, she needed to know why Spencer was here.

"How can I help you?" She asked. She had Taku's file in front of her and quickly scanned to see if she really had almost every page.

"Are you alright? I heard you yelp." He stepped around the desk and softly pulled away her hand to inspect the damage she had done to herself.

Azure was just sitting there with a growing blush on her face. Spencer hummed softly, as he checked the small bump.

"It should be fine in a bit, but if you get a headache take some aspirin and get some rest." He knelt next to her and made sure to look directly in her wide, gray eyes. She nodded silently, unable to make a sound.

They heard a cough and they turned their heads to the doors. Max was standing there in all his glory.

"Am I interrupting something?" He smirked when Azure growled at him. She gave a pointed look at Spencer, who moved back to the other side of the desk with a grin.

"Spencer, how can I help you?" Azure repeated to the Dragon trainer.

"I didn't see you at breakfast, and was wondering if you had eaten." The brown-eyed man shrugged lightly. "But I think you have." He waved at the corner of the desk where a bowl and spoon were placed.

"Thank you for your concern, I have eaten and obviously you have seen to the other thing." She gave him a soft smile.

"Please get ready for the long day ahead. You are going to be fighting for the ranks, aren't you?" After getting two affirmative nods, she quickly dismissed Spencer with a smile, her conversation with Max couldn't wait.

She waited until she was certain that Spencer wasn't in hearing range anymore before she put her attention on Max. She rested her head on her intertwined fingers, before speaking.

"Please have Zoroark make herself visible. I understand that she is an insurance, but this is one of the few rooms where the cameras can be shut down if I wish." Azure nodded to the spot where the Dark-type had chosen to stand.

It was obvious that Max didn't want to do it, but after Azure glared at him, he caved. Zoroark appeared and huffed at her trainer's boss before sitting down on one of the couches.

"I won't ask you to sit down, Max. I have a feeling you already know why I asked you to meet me today." Azure stated. Max just nodded.

The champion opened a drawer and grabbed a small stick out of it. She stared at it for a moment before steeling her resolve.

She lobbed it at Max, who snatched it out of the air. Opening his hand, he saw a small USB laying in his hand. He looked back at her with narrowed red eyes.

"That contains a key to our database and a copy of the digitized files on what we have on the League members. You will have complete access to you copy of the database and mine will take over the updated information you put in." Azure turned to the window and saw Taku and Grey making their way to the stadiums.

"Why are you giving this to me?" Max ground out, clenching the stick in his hand.

She turned back to him and she saw his eyes widen. Good, maybe this would show how serious the situation was. Both of her Eeveelutions looking at him with narrowed eyes, waiting for him to make a mistake.

"Your files indicated that you are a gatherer of information. And you use that information to beat your opponents like we all do. Only you do it better," She held up her hand to stop him from talking. "Information is knowledge and knowledge is power. You have that stick because I feel that you would not misuse the privilege I am giving you. Besides I have a feeling you already gained access to the database, not that I have proof of course." She looked at her nails in a nonchalant way.

"When you update your database, the main database will take the changes and I will be able to see what has changed. Help me protect Metria. And gather the information needed to do so." They looked eyes and Azure could see emotion swirling in his for a brief moment, before it disappeared again. Max gave a stiff nod and left the office. His Zoroark followed him on the foot, once again invisible.

"Well that went better than expected," Azure commented to her Pokémon. Then she saw the page she had been looking for lying next to her Pokémon.

Her head started throbbing again.

"Damn."

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when Azure was finally able to pull herself away from her desk. Stretching her arms, she felt a very satisfied pop and she gave a happy grin to her Pokémon.

They quickly left to the dirt field stadium, where she was going to meet up with the rest of the Elite Members. On the way there, she was greeted by the groundskeepers and the guards that were patrolling. The guard Growlithe were running up to her Pokémon to greet them and on occasion Azure stopped to talk with someone.

"Are we making progress with the Alakazam guards? We have several Alakazam already that help you lot to move around faster, but they can't patrol if they have been teleporting all day." One of the guards asked her. She reassured him that she was on it, but that it would take some time to have special guards trained.

Her walk took about 20 minutes more than had been necessary, but she finally made it to the battlefield. She saw Anthony and Verde sitting in the stands and went to join them.

"How did it go until now?" She asked the two seeing as all four of the Elite Four was down on the field.

Anthony was the one who answered her.

"First fight was Max against Spencer and that was a 2-on-2 that Max lost, but the strategies were sound." He sounded a bit confused about it, but Azure just nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"Then it was Grey against Taku, it took a while, but Grey was able to get around Taku's defenses and it was over quickly." Anthony gave a sigh. "Taku didn't take the loss well and now she lost again to Max, so she will probably feel bad for the coming days." He reported.

The young champion took a look at the field and saw that Anthony was right. Taku was standing there with her arms wrapped around her and her Mawile was trying to comfort her. Azure felt bad but knew that it couldn't be helped. Taku had to deal with this herself.

She was impressed by the fact that Max had managed to win from Taku. Maybe he was stronger than his files made him out to be. She shook her head and waited patiently for the match between Grey and Spencer to start.

"How about we keep it to a 2-on-2?" Spencer called out from his side of the field. He seemed eager to get started and Azure was curious about what they were going to do.

"Sounds fine with me. Gren! Zoro! Time to get started!" Grey yelled and behind him appeared his Greninja and Zoroark.

Spencer called out his Flygon and Altaria landed on Spencer's shoulder. The bird rubbed her head against Spencer's cheek and he softly patted her on the head.

"Gren, you're up first. Go ahead Spencer, you can start." Grey said standing in his box. The Water Pokémon started stretching in order to be ready for his opponent.

"Altaria, battle stance." Altaria flew to her place in front of Spencer as he and Flygon went to the trainer box.

"How about no substitutions?" He called to Grey.

"Fine by me. Don't like doing it anyway." Grey responded. He whispered something to Greninja, then gave Spencer the thumbs up.

"Wait a second. Grey, do you call all your Pokémon by just the first four letters of their species name?" Anthony yelled down to the field.

Max appeared in the front row of the spectators watching them. "I hope Darkass loses though I doubt Labcoat trains enough for it, although dragons are naturally strong and he's smart..." He muttered to himself before he began writing down what he analyzed from the Pokémon. Azure was glad to see that he was taking his new role seriously. But she didn't really get the nicknames.

"No, it goes; Gren, Zoro, Sol, Hydei, Yena, Eon. I wanted to abbreviate, but they didn't want anything too much, so, that's how it goes." Grey yelled back to the spectators.

Taku had just joined them and sat down with a big sigh. Azure laid a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder and squeezed softly before turning her attention back to the field.

Max silently wrote down the nicknames above each Pokémon for Grey's profile.

Okay, you go ahead and make the first move, Spencer, we're ready." Grey called out.

Spencer nodded and touched the pendant on his lanyard. Both the key stone and Altarianite started glowing in a pinkish purple light and Altaria transformed into her Mega form. When she finished, he called out for her to use sing. Opening her mouth, sound waves came out and quickly closed in on the Greninja, lulling him to sleep.

"Now use Moonblast on him, Altaria!" Spencer instructed his Pokémon.

"Wow, the mega has come out already, huh?" Grey smiled. He didn't seem worried at all, even when his Pokémon was down on the ground sleeping.

As the Moonblast approached the sleeping Pokémon, Greninja shot up and dispersed the incoming attack with a Water Pulse. Immediately following the Water Pokémon's arm began shining a light blue color then it seemed to freeze over. He rushed at Altaria, trying to smack her down with the readied Ice Punch.

Azure was a bit confused about Greninja's speedy recovery but didn't voice it. She didn't have to as Spencer had the same expression on his face and Grey had noticed that.

"Confused? Gren can nullify his senses in order to detect enemies better. He just closed off his hearing and thus avoided Altaria's Sing. He merely played along." Grey bragged a bit.

Azure face palmed at hearing the explanation. You did not do that during a battle, what if you needed that again? Max seemed to think the same since he scoffed while writing down the information.

"Oh. Well, Altaria! Cotton Guard!" Spencer quickly gave instructions.

Altaria expanded her fluff around her and blocked the punch just as it made contact.

"Follow up with Dragon Pulse!"

Altaria turned to the big frog and unleashed the move at extremely close range. The attack dealt major damage up close.

Gren took the blunt of the force, barely having time to put his arms up to defend. He was launched back to the ground, where he managed to get up quickly again. From his position on the floor, he launched multiple Water Shuriken.

Altaria kept flying in the air, taking the small hits that sapped her strength.

"Altaria! Fly up and charge a Sky Attack!" Spencer was getting a bit worried, but he had a plan.

Altaria chirped and flew up high.

Gren readied himself for the attack, charging another Ice Punch.

"Throw out a Smokescreen as well!" Grey called. The frog nodded and was soon concealed in a dark smoke.

Altaria dove in as the Smokescreen started to thicken and charged at Gren. She wasn't able to see him clearly, as the smoke had gotten too thick, but it was her lucky day.

Gren could see Altaria charging at him. The bird struck him in the midsection, but he managed to use the Ice Punch as well. A second after the impact he used the spin he gained to hit the bird, Gren was already launched backward from Altaria's hit.

Altaria screeched in pain from the Ice Punch as she hovered weakly in front of Spencer.

"Altaria? Can you roost? Or do you want to keep going to the end?" The Dragon trainer was worried for his Pokémon, but would abide by her wishes.

Altaria furiously shook her head. She would fight.

"To the end then. Up!" Altaria started flying higher and higher.

Greninja started spinning Water Shuriken on his fingers, waiting for Altaria's attack.

"Now Altaria! Dragon Rush!" Spencer shouted.

Altaria started gathering energy around herself and started a dive bomb towards Gren.

Greninja's eyes went wide as he threw the Shuriken, but they were dispersed in the pure energy that emanated from the flying Pokémon.

"Water pulse!" Grey called. Greninja scrambled to execute his orders and unleashed a point-blank, Water Pulse .The attacks of the two Pokémon collided with a purple blast.

Azure had to shield her eyes from the blast and met Verde's amber eyes. They gave each other a soft smile when they noticed what their Pokémon were doing. The Eeveelutions were sitting next to each other, talking about who knows what.

Azure's attention was then pulled back to Max as he was muttering to himself.

Max looked at them a little bored. "Not a great strategy when you have to say your entire plan." He remarked unimpressed by the purple blast that probably didn't faint either Pokémon.

And indeed, Altaria flew out of the smoke looking the same as she did when she went in. Spencer looked at the smoke and he smirked.

The smoke cleared out, Greninja was still standing, but he took a lot of damage. Grey could tell he didn't have much left.

"Use it." Grey's voice was solemn as he said this.

Greninja looked back and nodded. In one hand, he charged a Dark Pulse, in the other a Water Shuriken. He brought the two together to form a solid dark shuriken, then he used Extrasensory on the shuriken. It rose and flew around him with a pink aura. He hurled it at Altaria with incredible speed.

"Altaria! Use Protect!"

Altaria formed a green barrier as the move collided harshly with it and the Shuriken then dissipated in small glowing particles.

"Now use Moonblast!"

The dragon-bird formed the same ball of light as she did earlier and launched it at Gren.

Gren pulled up a defensive move himself, blocking the blast with Mat Block.

The Dragon-type used this chance to strike the final blow. She used Dragon Rush again as the Mat Block came down and charged straight for Gren.

She rushed at him too fast and the Water/Dark-type couldn't avoid it. He was launched back a few yards and was lying still on the ground. Then there was a poof of white smoke as Gren turned into a small green doll.

Spencer's brown eyes widened as he took in the sight before him.

"A substitute doll? But where?"

Altaria glanced side to side and flew around, looking for the Greninja. She knew that Substitute made the user weaker, and she wanted to utilize this chance.

Gren appeared from the ground and took hold of Altaria. He brought them high up then headed down back to the ground, a high level smack down. Altaria touched the ground and laid still.

Spencer knew this was it.

Altaria returned to her normal form as Spencer walked over and picked her up. He carried her back to the starting mark and gave her an Oran berry.

"Atta boy, Gren. How much you have left?" Grey asked his Pokémon.

Gren walked back to stand before his trainer, holding his arm a bit. The proud ninja-like Pokémon then flicked him in the head.

"Okay, okay. Continue as you may." Grey laughed relieved.

Spencer rubbed her head as she finished the Oran berry. "You did great. I couldn't be prouder." Altaria chirped happily as she stood on the ground.

* * *

Azure just rested her hand on her open palm as she watched the match play out. When Altaria fell, she wasn't all that surprised.

The green-haired woman sitting next to her didn't pay any attention to the things that were going on, on the field and was stroking her Leafeon.

"Your Leafeon looks very happy," Azure commented as her Jolteon jumped om her lap.

"Of course." Verde didn't say much more, but she seemed a little softer.

"You know I almost had a Leafeon of my own, Jolteon couldn't choose whether he wanted to be a Jolteon or a Leafeon. In the end playing with electricity won." Azure chuckled at the outraged expression that Verde was making.

"I can't believe that. Really?" Verde's Leafeon purred and the girl placed the Verdant Pokémon on her lap while she continued talking to Azure. The two were interrupted by the next fight between Flygon and Greninja.

The two Pokémon were on the field staring at each other. Measuring each other up. Greninja let out a smile as he found what he was looking for.

"Okay. Just like we practiced, got it?" Spencer called out to the Mystic Pokémon.

Flygon winked to the crowd and flew high in the air above his starting position. A quick claw was strung around Flygon's neck.

"Who do you think should go first?" Spencer called to Grey.

Gren nodded to his trainer and gave him a thumbs up.

"Alright you go ahead," Grey called over.

"Wrong choice! Flygon, sandstorm!" Flygon gathered energy and directed it at the ground as Spencer placed goggles on his eyes. An intense sandstorm arose that only Flygon and Spencer were unaffected by it. Those without protection got sand in their eyes.

Azure wasn't happy with this and nudged Espeon into providing a shield for the crowd in the stands.

Two Protect shields were covering the onlookers courtesy of Espeon and Max's Alakazam. Azure then took the chance to yell at Spencer.

"Crètin, the shields aren't up yet." She sat down with a huff when it appeared that he hadn't heard her. She hoped the sandstorm would lie down fast.

"Now use Dig!" Flygon dived into the ground.

Gren closed his eyes and scattered spikes around him. He focused on the vibrations underground, trying to ignore the sand tearing at his skin.

"It's useless," Spencer called out over the field.

The entire field started shaking and cracking open. Gren fell into a crack and got stuck.

"Nice Earthquake, Flygon."

Flygon flew out of the ground and hit Gren with a Dragon Claw.

"Aw, jeez..." Grey murmured.

Greninja hopped out, he was extremely beaten up, but he just shook his head.

"He's done!" Grey called. "Go ahead and go recover or something. Zoro buddy, ready?"

Zoro wrapped his arm around Grey and smiled a toothy grin.

"Good. Any means necessary, Zoro." Zoroark headed to the field, brought his hand out, and used the hand signal for 'bring it on'.

"What is with you and taking the second move? Flygon, keep the sandstorm going."

Flygon's eyes flashed and the storm resumed its rage.

Anthony was analyzing the battle as well.

"Now why would a Flygon need a Quick Claw?" he asked himself. Azure didn't have an answer to that question and held Espeon close to her. The Eeveelution was lounging around happily, the care of the shield was shared with the big Mustachio, so it wasn't draining her that much.

"Just call me generous," Grey replied.

Zoro changed forms and changed into an exact look alike of Flygon, and was no longer bothered by the sandstorm. Zoro charged the enemy Flygon with Retaliate, charged up to avenge Gren.

Flygon waited until the precise moment and barrel rolled out of the way and hit Zoro with Dragon Rush.

Zoro spun down toward the ground, but flapped his wings just in time to stop the impact, he remained in his Flygon form. With a wicked smile, he propelled quickly to strike Flygon in the side with Aerial Ace.

The quick claw flashed and Flygon speedily moved out of the way of the Aerial Ace and he slammed Zoro with Dragon Tail.

Zoro flew to the ground with a heap of smoke from the impact. "ZOR.. ARK!" Zoro yelled from behind Flygon and struck it with a Sucker Punch.

Flygon screeched in pain and flew back over in front of the starting position. Flygon started to use Bug Buzz.

Zoroark cover his ears, and released a startling cry, a Hyper Voice, to counter the Bug Buzz.

Flygon started shaking his head in pain. He increased the beating of his wings in a desperate attempt to increase the buzz.

The people in the stands didn't have any trouble as the Protects were still up.

Zoro slowly let go of his ears, maintaining his Hyper Voice. He began walking toward Flygon. He raised up his arms and out released a pitch black wave, his unique Night Daze.

Flygon couldn't take it anymore as he collapsed.

Spencer quickly rushed over to Flygon and started rubbing his head, before giving him an Oran berry. Flygon got his strength back and stood up. After making sure that Flygon wouldn't fall over, Spencer made his way to Grey. Altaria was perched on Spencer's shoulder and chirped happily at her teammate.

"You fought well." Spencer held out his hand for Grey to shake.

"As did you." Grey replied and shook his hand.

"That was sure one heck of a battle, wasn't it?" Taku said as she watched them shake each other's hands.

Maya just let out a 'Mawile' in agreement.

* * *

Azure was standing on the big balcony of the Elite Mansion watching the stars shine brightly above her head. Her Pokémon had opted to go to sleep early and she had left them in her room. So she was all alone, just watching the stars. She was able to spot Orion and the big Dipper.

The lights went on and she turned around to look at the person wanted to come out. To her surprise, it was Anthony and his Gengar that joined her in the cold night.

She gave them a small wave and turned back to the stars. It was quite for a while before Anthony softly spoke up.

"You don't mind being around Ghost-types?"

Azure looked at him and then at Gengar. Her face was soft as she shook her head.

"No, I think that they are kinda great, to be honest. I used to be friends with a Shuppet before he and my cousin went on their journey." She laughed at the happy memories.

"Most people think that they are evil," Anthony whispered.

The blonde shook her head. "I don't think so. I believe that they are more prone to acting out, but Pokémon aren't evil. They simply exist and the actions of the trainer decide how a Pokémon will act, so it is the trainer." She was rewarded with a toothy grin from the Ghost-type gym leader.

They spoke a bit about the hobby they had and Azure was interested in the fact that Anthony was quite creative, because as she said herself, she was as artistic as the rear end of a Tepig. She consoled herself with the fact that she was able to play an instrument at least.

Anthony had to excuse himself as he wanted to leave tomorrow and he needed to get some sleep.

She wished him a goodnight and watched him go inside.

Azure had a sudden feeling of dread. She couldn't explain it, but she did know to take it seriously.

She did something she hadn't done in a long time. She prayed to Xernas and Yveltal to keep her loved ones safe and to keep an eye on Metria. As she finished, she was rewarded with the incredible sight of a meteor shower. Tears filled her gray eyes as she watched the falling stars.

She didn't notice that she was joined by the Elite Four until a scathing remark came from Max.

"Is it already becoming too much, Miss Champion?" He asked as he lounged on the railing to her right.

"She is just happy to see the beautiful stars, even if they pale in comparison to the ladies here." Grey rebutted Max's question.

Azure smiled when she felt Taku sidle up to her left side and Spencer stood behind the girls saying nothing but smiling at them.

"It seems that for tonight we are favored by the gods." Azure gave a tender smile as she wrapped her arm around the younger Taku. Spencer squeezed her shoulder and Grey gave a bright smile. Max just nodded at her.


	5. Starter, Teak and Cyanide

So, New Chapter. Enjoy.

Chapter 5: Starters, Teak, and Cyanide

* * *

"Come on, I want to get to Delphinus Town before it gets dark," Azure yelled to her companions. Kicking up dust, the blonde was waiting for her friends to catch up. Her Weavile was standing off to the side, chuckling at the two stragglers.

"We were dropped off at the outskirts, it is not like we had to walk all the way here," She grumbled to herself as she watched Taku and Spencer tumble down the path. Hearing an angry screech, she sighed and held out her arm to let Altaria perch on it. The bird had been flying for about two minutes now and every time she had tried to rest on her trainer's shoulder, he had thrown her off.

Azure softly stroke the dragon bird on her neck and was rewarded with a happy chirp.

"He can't help it, sweetie. He isn't that used to dirt paths." Azure and the two Pokémon laughed about it while Spencer finally reached them.

"Harhar, make fun of the fact that I dislike traveling on foot." He made an attempt to grab the bird, but he missed. Altaria had seen it coming and had taken off before he could even touch her. Spencer ended up grabbing Azure's arm and pulling her to him, flush to his chest.

The two stood there quietly for a moment before Spencer released her arm and let her step away from him. She wasn't looking at him, but he could see the faint blush that dusted her cheeks. The blush died down quickly and replaced with a longing look. Before Spencer could ask her about it, he was hit in the back by Maya the Mawile.

The small Steel-type had rushed ahead of her trainer, eager to see her hometown again. She had stopped just behind Spencer and when she turned to cheer on Taku, the Steel-type had accidently slammed her big maw into the Dragon trainer's back. Resulting in him face-planting into the ground.

Taku started laughing, the tears in the corners of her eyes were evidence of her mirth. Maya just chuckled nervously. When Spencer finally got his face out of the dent in the ground, he turned to glare at the Pokémon. Maya just put her hands behind her back and made her best attempt at whistling.

Spencer just shook his head and looked at the hand that appeared in his sight. He raised his head and saw Azure standing with her arm stretched out to him, a smile on her face. He gave her a smile back and let her help him up.

Azure just smiled as she watched Spencer dust off his lab coat. He grimaced as his once pristine white coat was littered with dirt spots. He shrugged, at least it made Azure and Taku laugh.

As the small group walked into Delphinus they were not greeted with a mob of well-wishing citizens. Azure couldn't help, but let out a small sigh of relief. She had half expected a mob to show up. Weavile was pulling on her sleeve and was urgently pointing in a certain direction. Azure took one look and paled. There was the mob.

Azure and Spencer quickly move to the side of the road so that they couldn't be surrounded. Taku was completely clueless about the two and just kept on walking with Maya at her side.

The brunet tried to get Taku's attention, but he failed. Azure grabbed his arm and held him back, knowing that Taku was a lost cause.

To both of their surprise, the mob stopped a few feet away from Taku and seemed to wait for something. Maya patted her trainer's hand and the young girl finally realized that there were people in front of her.

"Hi," She waved, a bit confused on why there were so many people all of a sudden.

Immediately the noise level went through the roof and Spencer and Azure had to cover their ears. When they were able to look again they saw that Taku and Maya were surrounded. The people were cheering at Taku, who was standing there with a wry smile on her face.

"Lady Taku, why didn't you inform us that you gained a place in the Elite Four?" An elderly woman cried out.

"Taku, will you autograph this for me?" A young boy yelled over the crowd.

"Could you introduce me to the Dark-type specialist, Taku?" A girl from around Taku's age yelled.

Taku tried to calm the crowd down, but she didn't have much luck. She was saved by the appearance of a Lucario that stood on a nearby rooftop.

"LUCAS!" Taku's face lit up and she was able to get away from the crowd. Azure and Spencer quickly followed her, letting their Pokémon ward of the people that wanted to follow.

Taku was hugging her old companion fiercely. The Lucario just held her and was talking to Maya who was gesturing wildly. Azure dodged a swipe from Maya's big mouth and tapped Taku on her shoulder.

The girl turned around and met Azure's gray eyes.

"So, you are quite popular here."

The raven-haired girl looked away with a frown.

"Not really," Taku's brown eyes never left the ground. "They used to ignore me and now that I finally account for something, they want stuff from me."

Azure felt a pang and didn't know what to do about it. She had never been in that position. Being from one of the founder families of Kalos and especially the one from Shalour, guaranteed you were popular and treated with respect. Maybe that was why she liked people who didn't know her family better.

"It will be alright, we are still here for you," Spencer's voice cut through Azure's thoughts and she raised her head to see Spencer smiling at Taku, who looked a lot more reassured.

"We have an appointment with Professor Teak and we are slightly behind schedule." Azure spoke softly, before gesturing to Taku to lead the way.

Taku said goodbye to her old friend and told him that she would come visit soon. The Lucario nodded and bounded back up to the rooftops and with a wave he disappeared.

Leading the way with Maya, Taku stayed silent for a bit thinking. Spencer and Azure walked a bit behind her, unwilling to disturb the younger girl.

"You know I am really looking forward to meeting Professor Teak," Spencer turned to Azure. She, in turn just nodded slightly. She still remembered him from her childhood. Weird to know that the lanky teenager had reached his goal and became a Pokémon professor.

"I hope he knows a lot about Mega Evolution," Spencer was smiling goofily at the thought of getting the things he needed to further his research.

"He came to the Tower of Mastery when he was young and grandfather liked him a lot more than other students, so he was let in on quite a few more secrets than most. Including you." Without looking at his face, she quickly followed her statement up.

"You are drooling, weirdo." Azure laughed softly at the immediate reaction this invoked in Spencer. He simultaneously wiped his mouth, turned rose red and started protesting that he did not drool.

She just sped up with Weavile by her side and ran ahead to the small lab she saw in the distance. Passing Taku and Maya, she turned around to challenged them to a run. Maya was the only one who took on her challenge and raced with the trainer and her Pokémon to the set of buildings.

Spencer didn't want to spend much energy to try and catch up with Azure and just made his strides a bit longer. He caught up with the smaller Taku within seconds. Together they just followed their excited boss.

* * *

"Good afternoon." Azure greeted one of the rushing assistants.

The assistant stopped with what she was doing and turned to greet the newcomers.

"Good afternoon, I am sorry. We are a bit busy with the preparations of the leaving ceremony. If you don't have an appointment could you come back another day?" She hurriedly asked without taking the time to look at the people standing in front of her.

"We have an appointment with the good professor, but he was always a bit scatterbrained. Even when he studied at the Tower of Mastery." Azure spoke sweetly. Knowing that today was a busy day, she had no illusions that anyone else would have gotten a different reaction.

This elicited a reaction from the stressed woman.

"The professor?" Looking up, she locked eyes with the woman standing in the room. She suddenly was staring into the face of the champion. Averting her gaze, she saw the local celebrity, Taku Inoue and Spencer Finch, the Dragon-type Elite Four Trainer. She didn't hesitate for a moment and marched to the staircase that led to the underground laboratory.

"SILAS TEAK, GET YOUR ASS UP HERE!" The red-haired assistant yelled harshly down the stairs.

Azure couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor prof. He really had forgotten to tell his employees that they were coming. Whoops, she should have called today to say that they were coming. It would have saved Silas from the wrath of his wife.

A disheveled man in a lab coat stumbled up the stairs in an attempt to look awake. He obviously failed miserably, when he almost slammed into the wall. Azure had to stifle a laugh when she saw the woman fume at the unsuspecting man.

Silas Teak was a tall man with medium blond hair that hung over his amber eyes in an adorable manner. Not understanding why he had been called up to the normal level, he reached over and pulled the fuming woman to him, only to plant a kiss on her lips. It helped to calm her down considerably.

"So, now why did you call me up, Liv?" He softly murmured in her ear.

"You have guests." The redhead gestured to the trio.

Spencer and Taku's mouths had fallen open and their brown eyes were so wide that Azure thought that their eyes were going to fall out. Of course, they wouldn't know that he was married. Happily, the champion bounded over to the two.

"You must be Olivia." She reached out to take the woman's hand. Olivia was glad to shake the champion's hand.

"Azure? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be busy with paperwork?" Silas Teak took one look at the woman that had bounded up to him.

"Paperwork is all done for the next week and I called you a few days ago. I wanted to meet up again after having not seen you for ten years. And you asked me to bring my resident researcher." Azure rolled her eyes at the same time as Olivia did. Taku was just standing there, not knowing what was happening.

Spencer had only just cranked his jaw back up when he was greeted by Silas Teak.

"So you are Little Blue's geek." A slapping sound was heard. Ignoring what was probably just Azure, Spencer answered Silas.

"Little Blue? If you mean Azure, I guess I am." He just shrugged about it, but his cheeks turned red again.

"So you are also researching Mega evolution? Can you use it, like Little Blue?" Silas asked swiping a clipboard from a nearby table.

The two men quickly got involved in a conversation that went completely over Azure's head. Terms that she had never even heard of were flying around like they were candy. Shooting a pleading glance at Olivia, she and Taku were quickly led away to another room.

"I am going to show you our starter Pokémon, I am sure they would like some distraction," The redheaded woman told the others.

"Why would they like a distraction, Mrs. Teak?" Taku questioned. Maya was nodding at that question.

"As I said before, today three first-time trainers are coming to get their first Pokémon. And they are a bit nervous if they are going to get chosen." Olivia reached the door to the small greenhouse-like room, where the starters were kept.

"After careful observation of the region, we have been able to find three traditional starters. Take a look." With these words, Olivia opened the doors and allowed the girls to walk inside.

Two of the starters came running over at the same time. Azure recognized one of them at once. It was a little yellow fox with dark orange ear tufts and a white snout. It was the fire starter of her home region: Fennekin.

Opening her arms, the fox jumped into them. Azure quickly went to her knees and cuddled with the small Pokémon. She loved the little foxes, but never had the opportunity to actually catch one. Or get one from the previous professor in Kalos.

She did get a Ninetales in the end. And she loved the cream-colored fox to death. Still, an opportunity to cuddle with a Fennekin shouldn't be passed up. In the meantime, the water-type came up to Taku and demanded attention.

"Osha, Osh, WOTT." The little blue and white otter-like Pokémon was jumping up and down trying to get the girl to focus on him. Taku took two seconds to snatch him up and squeeze him gently. The Oshawott rubbed his head to Taku's cheek in happiness.

"You are so CUTE." The ravenette squealed loudly.

Maya took offense to this and harrumphed loudly. Turning away when Taku didn't react to her antics, Maya left to look for the last starter, curious as she was.

The Mawile found the last starter lying in a sunny patch in the midst of a few pleasant smelling plants. To Maya, the Grass-type looked like a dinosaur with a bulb on its back. The dinosaur lifted a lazy eyelid, revealing a red iris. A lazy smile was given and it patted on the spot next to him. Maya gladly took the invitation and sat down for a nice nap.

Olivia smiled as she watched two of the most fearsome women of their region, completely made harmless by the tricks of two young Pokémon. Suddenly, she had a bright idea. Well. She had them more often, she had to when she was married to a very smart man.

"Azure, would you say something to the first-timers when they come to receive their Pokémon?" Olivia asked quickly before Azure would sink into a Fennekin-cuddle stupor.

The blonde let the question sink in for a moment before replying with a question of her own.

"Are you sure? Wouldn't that take away from your and Silas's moment? The first time ever that you are going to give away a Pokémon that may have its first journey in Metria." Azure teared up a little as she thought about her own first time leaving home with her trust Pokémon at her side.

Thinking about it made her realize that a few words from an experienced trainer couldn't hurt.

"I'll do it if you really want me to."

Olivia nodded. It would be a memory that the kids would never forget. And sometimes it was all they needed to pull through and not give up. Azure just hoped she wouldn't screw up.

The Fennekin in her arms had enough of the cuddles and jumped out. Azure's Weavile greeted the little Fire-type with a wave. The Dark/Ice –type started up a small conversation, giving some tips on how to handle stubborn trainers.

* * *

It was a relaxing hour for Azure and Olivia, who were making small talk. Watching as Taku played with Oshawott and Fennekin. And Weavile and Maya were sleeping next to Bulbasaur.

The first new trainer was led to the room by another assistant. A young girl that was followed by a Dedenne came skipping into the room. Ecstatic and exactly as Azure thought a new trainer would behave.

The blue-haired girl stopped short when she spotted the two women sipping their tea. When Taku came running in with the two energetic starters on her heels, she looked ready to faint.

Azure held in a snort. She and Taku weren't really that special, were they? Maybe the girl would faint at Spencer's appearance. That would be funny. Sipping daintily from her tea, she observed the new girl.

Cheerful and nice, not likely to succeed in their world as a battle trainer. But with the way she was dressed it indicated a strong interest in contests. Her clothes were out of the ordinary and less practical than a battle trainer would wear. Practical enough for the road, but not for running around with your Pokémon with.

Too bad Metria didn't offer a contest challenge, Azure mused. It would be fun to watch some of those live, in the future.

The next trainer was more confident, but not to the point that it would be obnoxious. Azure took some interest in this girl. Her companion of choice was a Roserade, one that seemed a bit more dangerous that most of the species Azure had seen before. Could she be a Poison-type specialist in the make?

That would be very interesting. The girl's dark purple hair was placed in two pigtails, fastened with two rose-colored hair ties. The girl was wearing clothes that didn't immediately indicate a type preference, but Azure was able to see the difference easily. A pink jacket with purple stripes and a sweater with the picture of a Pikachu. And a red skirt that was at least of considerable length not to expose anything, unlike the other girl.

Olivia stood up and walked to the two girls to greet them.

"Good afternoon Ladies. I am Olivia Teak. You must be Emily and Cyanide. It is nice to meet you." She shook the girls' hands and gestured for them to sit down at the table where Azure was sitting.

"I have to get the Professor. I'll be back soon," Olivia reassured the girls and walked out of the room to drag her husband and his new best friend to meet the newest trainers.

An uncomfortable silence fell in the greenhouse. Taku preoccupied herself by keeping the young starters entertained and even the Bulbasaur had joined in to play. Metria's champion didn't pay much attention at first to the two girls, but after they were starting to fidget, Azure turned to them.

"Would either of you like a cup of tea?" She asked gently. Emily shook her head, unable to say a word and Cyanide politely refused, saying she wasn't thirsty.

"I do not bite, you know. Ask any questions that you want." She placed her cup down and waited to see if any questions would pop up. It was a few minutes before either of the girls decided to speak up.

"You are the Champion, right? Do you specialize in a type?" Emily asked self-consciously. The young girl avoided looking at Azure's face, who in turn just rolled her eyes at the girl's bashful behavior.

"No, I do not actually. The only ones that I know of that specialize in one type are Lance from Kanto and Steven from Hoenn. Cynthia, Alder, and Diantha all use a variety of Pokémon as it covers the weakness of their Pokémon." Azure replied to Emily's question.

The blonde saw Cyanide duck her head and looked away to the three starters. Her eyes seemed to be focused on Bulbasaur. A small frown was placed on her face. Azure knew that it had to do with her words, but they were the truth. Most of the Champions of the past had all preferred to have a diverse team instead of focusing on one type in particular. She had an idea. Maybe…

"Taku, could you come here for a minute please?" Azure called out to the other girl in the room. The ravenette turned and nodded quickly. Maya and Weavile stayed put and took over the game Taku had been playing with the starter Pokémon.

"These are Cyanide and Emily, they were asking about specialist champions, but I know little of them. Could you elaborate on them a bit more?" Azure inquired.

"Sure, I can. What do you girls want to know?" Taku took a seat at the table and quickly got in a conversation with Cyanide over the ins and outs of being a specialty trainer. Emily was looking at them with a weird expression on her face and stood up to introduce herself to the starters when she had enough of the conversation.

"So being a specialty trainer just means you have to work harder to overcome your weaknesses? And the trainers that reach the champion spot actually have stronger Pokémon?" Cyanide mused softly to herself.

"Pretty much, Cyan-chan. Trainers that choose to connect more with one type instead of a variety are always on one side weaker and yet on the other side stronger. Because they know what their Pokémon can do." Taku tapped on her chin to show that she was thinking.

"Well I actually just rolled into it and I can't remember how it happened." The ravenette struck the classical thinking pose for a few seconds but then gave up.

"Anyways, if you really want to be a monotype trainer, go for it. It will be hard at first, but if you have fun it will always be less hard. And don't worry about having Pokémon that share even the secondary type, they could be very different in terms of battle." Taku gave a smile at the purple-haired girl, who smiled back.

A small thank you could be heard coming from Cyanide and the two girls were happy with the conversation they had held.

* * *

The third of the trainers was led into the small greenhouse. This time, it was a guy, who walked in like he owned the place. Azure took one look at his Pokémon and knew he would have to get a reality check soon. Really, who would give their child a Persian as their first Pokémon?

"Do you have one of those certificates that allow you to fight with a Persian? Otherwise, I would recommend sending it back home, kid." Azure called out to him. He looked up with an expression that said: Shit, I am caught. He quickly squared his shoulders and looked at her haughtily.

"I have no need of one of those little pieces of paper. My parents made sure that I…"And here he was cut off by a yawning Azure.

"Certificate or your Persian will be taken away if you try to battle with it in any sort of official capacity until you earn your fourth badge. Sorry, kid. That are the rules. Persian can be quite dangerous, even if yours seems to be well trained." Azure told him. The Persian gave her a sharp look, but true to Azure's statement, just rolled with it. She then continued.

"Even I had to get a certificate to be able to raise my Salamence. He was a bit stronger than I initially expected him to be when I caught him. When he evolved it was a bit of a shock. Seeing as I only had two badges." Azure pressed the issue home.

He seemed to want to contradict her but thought the better of it. He gave her a nod and left it alone. Taku gave her a grave nod, she had also had to get five different certificates for her Pokémon, just because they were known to be more dangerous. Before they could say anything else on the matter, the doors to the laboratory slammed open.

It was Olivia dragging Silas and Spencer into the small greenhouse. The two men were still talking about Mega Evolution and Azure and Taku gave an exasperated sigh.

"Spencer, enough." Azure growled at her friend. "You can discuss the changes that occur to a Tyranitar when he Mega Evolves at a later time."

Seeing as that he wasn't reacting, she reached out in annoyance and pulled on his ear.

He gave a loud yelp and she let go, her message had gotten through. He was rubbing his ear and giving her a hurtful look. Azure couldn't care less, now it was time for the little first-timers to gain their official starter Pokémon.

Olivia stood next to the table that held the three starters and their Poké Balls. Fennekin, Oshawott, and Bulbasaur were sitting next to each other in hopeful anticipation.

Silas gave the trainer hopefuls a look before smiling and starting with his carefully prepared speech.

"Uh… Welcome to my laboratory. I am guessing you guys are here to receive your first Pokémon? Where did I put the Pokédexes?" Silas asked, rubbing his neck and rummaging through some desk drawers.

The three children nodded, slightly confused. Azure could now see why Olivia had asked her to say something.

"Alright, while Professor Teak finds your Pokédexes, maybe I could give you some advice for the long journey ahead." Azure spoke up drawing the attention of the children. Walking to stand on the other side of the table, she started her small speech.

"You are here because you love Pokémon and see yourselves being around Pokémon in the future. The life of a trainer is hard but rewarding. Seeing new places and meeting new friends and Pokémon is a learning experience that will stay with you forever." Azure sighed contently as she thought back at her own journeys that brought her to where she was now. Spencer took over from her.

"Don't worry about whether you win a gym battle the first time or the third time. Simply train and try again. Metria wasn't built in one day and you will need some time to grown into the person you can be. Don't worry when you fall, just get back up and try again." Spencer nodded to the three younger trainers in the room.

"And remember, being a trainer is about being the best YOU can be. But try to keep it a fun time. No one like sourpusses." Taku piped up from her place behind Fennekin. She was stroking the little fox's head.

"Well then. Emily, why don't you have the first pick?" Olivia gestured for the girl to step up and make her choice. Emily didn't hesitate and opened her arms to Oshawott. The otter looked up and down before jumping in her arms and settling down. Dedenne on the floor chittered happily.

Cyanide was next and as expected wanted Bulbasaur as her next partner. Roserade nodded sagely at the choice. Bulbasaur nodded too and the trio was ready to start their adventure.

The guy was left with Fennekin but was happy about it. The fox agreed and settle on his shoulder after giving his trainer's cheek a quick lick.

"Ah, here they are." Silas had finally found the devices and stared dumbly at the laughing people. He really didn't know what was so funny.

Shortly after the kids got their Pokédex, they and the League members left the Teak Laboratory. Only to be met outside with reporters that had caught wind of their presence in Delphinus Town.

"Well, Smile and wave for the reporters, guys."

* * *

An exhausted Azure was lying on the couch of the shared living room on the ground floor with her Ninetales draped over her cold feet. The TV was on and she could hear snippets filtering through the haze that was her mind.

"Champio… and Elite mem…spotted in Delphinus T… Appears that… starters… posed for photo…"

Throwing a weak glare at the stupid thing, she made a half-hearted attempt to find the remote and turn it off.

She gave up and just turned around to face the back of the couch. Closing her eyes, she thought back on the day. After the whole ceremony she, Taku and Spencer had managed to escape the evil reporters by releasing their standard flyers and hopping on them.

Nothing was going to be easy anymore was it?

Turning back, she was hit on the head by something. Opening her eyes, she saw Max standing there with a grin and the remote she had been looking for.

"Max, what do you want?" She sighed.

"I saw in your notes that you were thinking about inviting the other Leagues for some matches. I highly suggest you do that soon." Max stated in a deadpan voice.

Azure just nodded and grabbed the remote from Max to switch the channel.

As he walked away, Azure realized something.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN "SAW IN YOUR NOTES"? MAX GET BACK HERE." She yelled before rolling off the couch and landing hard on the floor. Laughter could be heard from the hallway, as Azure groaned in pain.


	6. Oh boy, not my Best Idea in Hindsight

New chapter. I didn't think I was going to make it, but I got so bored with what I was doing that I started to write. So now, here is the new chapter. Love you guys, and even more if you leave a review!

Chapter 6 Oh Boy, not my Best Idea in Hindsight

* * *

"Good evening!" Azure was standing on the same stage as two weeks before. The cameras' were creating countless flashes as the Champion and Grey were holding a press conference in the League Office. Grey's Mightyena snarled at the flashes and Grey had to comfort the poor beast. Jolteon was lounging on the excess space of the desk Azure was standing behind.

"I am pleased to announce that we will be holding exhibition matches next week against several members of the other League Branches." Azure smiled her press smile. The flashes were becoming annoying and the blonde had to raise an arm to shield her eyes from the light. The flashes stopped almost immediately and she gave them a thankful nod. Cameras were quickly becoming the bane of her existence. Well, apart from the stacks of paperwork she had to complete.

"A few days ago I sent out an invitation to all the other League branches. Already I have confirmation from Sinnoh and Hoenn that at least one member has agreed to come and fight a match." Azure nodded to Grey, who sighed. He was highly annoyed and didn't want to be there. She had forced him to come anyway. Her reason? She wanted to make another person suffer the horrors of facing that many reporters at once. He focused back on her, as she continued speaking.

"The matches will be held over several days and be open to the public and press. We sincerely hope that the matches will be of considerable level and that they will be enjoyable for both participants and crowd." Cheers could be heard as soon as Azure stopped speaking. Jolteon flicked his ear at the noise but didn't feel like doing anything else.

"Champion Shalour, do you know who will be coming and who is going to fight which member if the Metria Elite Four?" Azure recognized the reporter from the day she, Taku and Spencer went to visit Silas. He had been the most annoying one of the bunch. Putting a smile on her face, she answered quickly.

"Please call me Azure, I am hopefully not old enough to be called that all day long. But to answer your question. Sidney and Drake from the Hoenn Elite Four are coming over and Sidney will fight a match with our very own Greyson Wolf." Here Grey waved to the crowd eliciting a few feminine screams from fans. Azure was quite certain that she even heard some men scream Grey's name, but he himself stubbornly denied it. Mightyena had to avert his face every time, Azure wanted to bring it up.

"Champion Cynthia from Sinnoh has kindly agreed to test me in a match." Azure gave a laugh, as she thought of the formidable Sinnoh Champion. "I am fairly sure she will wipe the floor with me, but I am hoping my Pokémon and I can at least take a stand and not lose within the first five minutes."

This earned her a few sympathetic looks, but mostly laughter. She felt relief flooding her, but it was too early to show it. Continuing to answer the questions from the reporters, Azure revealed that the Kanto and Johto League were going to send some representatives, but she didn't know who. And that some gym leaders from Kalos would be visiting.

She was briefly asked to touch upon the Unova Branch. Azure truthfully told that there had been no answer at all from the Unova League. Something that made her quite happy, she didn't exactly like the bushy-haired child-champion. The dark-skinned girl would always hit a nerve whenever she had to talk to Iris.

Apparently she hadn't managed to stifle her smile when she told about the Unova League since the cameras went off again. Knowing it would be better not to mull over it, she started to end the press conference. She quickly said her general remarks about the event and bade them a good weekend. The rush outside was something to behold. Only a few stragglers remained after a minute. Jolteon jumped down unto the floor and stared at his trainer.

Rolling her gray eyes at the impatient Eeveelution she climbed down from her spot behind the microphones, Azure was stopped by her heels. Or more the fact that her heel was stuck in one of the steps.

Grey heard Azure grumble something about stupid heels and turned to see what the problem was. Azure was bend over trying to get her three-inch heel out of a small hole. Taking off the shoe wasn't an option since it had three different straps to make sure it would stay in place. Grey couldn't help but snicker at her predicament. How had she managed that in the first place, anyway? She heard him and shot him a glare, she was not happy. Shaking his head, he stepped over to help her.

Azure was surprised when she saw another pair of hands trying to help her. Looking up, she stared at Grey's platinum white hair. His green eyes were narrowed as he assessed the problem. She waited patiently for him to say something, as she was unable to see what the problem was herself. He gestured for her to stand up straight. When she did so, he grabbed the offending heel and started moving it around.

The blonde was trying hard to stay in balance, but Grey's enthusiasm made it too hard. When her heel dislodged, she felt over. Bracing herself for the pain, she closed her eyes. When she didn't feel any pain, she reopened her eyes. It seemed that the Elite Four member had caught her before she would have face planted on the rather hard floor. He shifted her around, so it would take less effort to hold her. She gave him a bright smile and opened her mouth.

Before she could say anything, a flash caught both her and Grey's attention. Mechanically turning her head, she saw a grinning Max standing in the door opening to the back part of the building.

"That would make a great addition to my collection." He remarked to Zoroark. The Dark-type nodded sagely at her trainer.

"Max, what is that about a collection?" Azure's deadly voice cut through the space. Still suspended in Grey's arms, she stared at the dark-haired man with a very offending camera in his hands.

"Well, princess. It is actually joining the picture I made of you and mister Labcoat in your office."

Finally realizing that she was held in a princess hold by Grey, she blushed madly. Max's words were enough to set Azure off and she started squirming around and demanded to let down from her spot in Grey's arms. He just grinned and denied her.

"Jolteon, fry that camera!" She shouted. Her trusty companion obeyed and shot off a bolt of lightning, strong enough to fry a camera.

Max just dropped the thing. Azure grinned victoriously. She didn't keep it long, as Max was grinning too. He pulled out another camera from a pocket and just snapped another shot. He then hurried out of the room, followed by the beautiful tones of Azure screaming bloody murder and Grey's hysterical laughter.

* * *

It was a few days later and Azure was anxiously waiting for the contingents to arrive. Taku knocked on the open office doors and Azure gestured for her and the ever present Maya to come in.

"So excited?" The dark-haired girl asked the older girl. She got a blank stare in response.

"There are more people coming than I had expected to be interested in our little event." Azure was a bit pale and Taku wasn't sure what was wrong with either of them.

"Why are you so surprised about all the attention?" Taku grabbed a chair and made herself comfortable. Azure shook her head and looked back out of the window.

"I am not sure why I am apprehensive, but I guess it has to do with the fact that I may have blown up some battlefields?" Azure muttered quickly. The younger girl couldn't believe her ears.

"Could you repeat that, please? I couldn't understand it properly." Taku's face grew a sneaky grin. Azure sighed and repeated it.

"I blew up some gyms and a few League Battlefields," Azure placed her face in her hand. Taku was howling with laughter. Sure, as a Steel-type trainer it was unavoidable to destroy things, but she had never managed to blow up parts of a stadium. Maya was giggling behind her paw.

"It isn't funny. Do you know how expensive it is to have them repaired? Especially when the UPL isn't willing to help out after the fifth time?" Azure groaned as she thought of all the Poké Dollars she had spent to fix the stadiums and the gyms. She could have retired already with the amount of money she had spent.

Taku had slid out of the chair and was now rolling on the floor, crying from the stitches in her sides. Azure rolled her eyes and waited for the trainer and her Pokémon to stop laughing about her misery. When Taku and Maya didn't look like they were going to stop anytime soon, Azure stood up and whistled to her Espeon to come. The Eeveelution jumped up and with a mild Psychic attack grabbed Taku and Maya. Trotting out the office, Espeon deposited the two outside in the hallway.

After locking the doors to her office, Azure and Espeon left the building to go on a walk. That would hopefully calm her nerves down a bit.

Walking in the small garden in front of the mansion, she did manage to stop worrying about the event that she had decided to hold. She heard Spencer and Altaria coming from further in the garden curiously she went to take a look. It wasn't often that she was able to see the researcher outside of his natural habitat. Also known as his lab.

* * *

Spencer had decided to spend some time in the sun and nature instead of his lab. He didn't feel like going far or taking a walk, so he settled in his favorite part of the gardens. It was a small space with a fountain and a lot of flowers around it. The fountain had a statue of a Dragonair and two Dratini that spewed out streams of water. The water streams would make soft splashing sounds and the flowers smelled great.

The brown-haired man relaxed with his Pokémon out about doing their own thing. Altaria was perching in the tree in the corner of the small space enjoying the peace and quiet. When her trainer started humming a popular song, she softly hummed with him. Ah, she had missed this. It had been weeks, since the last time they just did nothing and relaxed.

The bird fell asleep to the soft tunes of her trainer's voice.

Soft footsteps could be heard if the listener cared enough to actually listen. Since Spencer was singing, he couldn't hear them.

"From the setting sun,

to the breaking dawn,

And through the darkness,

though the night is long,

If you ever need somebody,

I'll be the one"

The Dragon-type trainer was absorbed in his singing. Scribbling away in his notebook, he enjoyed the sun's rays.

"That sounds lovely," A soft melodic voice came out of nowhere. Spencer almost screamed out of surprise, but he held it in. However since he had been sitting on the edge of the fountain when he was startled by the sudden appearance of the voice, he fell into the fountain basin.

Raking his hand through his hair and pulling his bangs out of his eyes, he was ready to scold the person that had sneaked up on him. His brown eyes met gray ones. They were darker than Azure's eyes, so that ruled out the blonde champion. He then took in the rest of the person. It was a girl, clad in a pink, purple and yellow Furisode. She had long black hair that shone with a purple tint in the sunlight.

Spencer acutely became aware of his predicament and flushed a gorgeous tomato red. She was aware too of his position. Instead of staring at him she looked the other way. The black-haired beauty was trying very hard to keep in her giggles. Using her sleeve, she hid her mouth from sight and allowed to a small smile to appear.

Then to add to Spencer's mortification, Azure and Espeon wandered into the clearing and saw him.

"Um… Hatchling, why are you in the fountain?" She asked, clearly confused.

The black-haired beauty couldn't hold it in anymore and started giggling. Azure whipped her head around and she smiled at seeing an old friend of hers.

"Valerie, I didn't know you were coming too! Why didn't you tell me?" Azure hugged the other girl briefly before realizing what Valerie's appearance meant. The Kalos representatives were finally here.

And she also realized that she had called Spencer hatchling. Flushing red, she retreated back to where she came from. Before she made an even bigger fool out of herself. The only male in the clearing noticed it and wasn't going to let her off so quickly.

"Azure, where are you going?" Spencer yelled after her, still sitting in the water.

"I need to meet the others, be sure to guide Val back to the mansion when you get out of your bath, Spence. Thank you!" Azure had stuck her head around the corner back for a second and then disappeared again.

Spencer was completely drenched and stuck with a beautiful, laughing girl. Altaria landed on the edge of the fountain and splashed her trainer by accident. This resulted in Valerie having an even bigger laughing fit.

"Well, nice to meet you, Hatchling." She finally managed to get out.

Watching the girl, Spencer somehow thought that the situation wasn't that bad at all.

* * *

"Korrina, I didn't think you would be here?" Azure rounded the corner at top speed and the Fighting-type specialist knew to step aside unless she wanted to get flattened by her elder cousin. It was a wise decision as Azure didn't quite manage to stop in time and slammed into Grey. He hadn't been paying attention to her, as he had his eyes fastened on the pink-haired Elite Four member, Malva. She was completely disinterested in the Elite Four members that had been their welcoming committee.

The champion slamming into someone else was enough to pull her attention to the others. The blonde rubbed her nose, Grey was kinda solid and it hurt to slam into him. Azure was already dreading the lovely comments Malva was going to make about it. Korrina knew her cousin had a history with the pinkette and wasn't expecting much from it.

"Azure, how lovely is it to see you again." Malva gushed. It threw the blonde cousins for a loop. Grey was just smiling at the scene. Taku, on the other hand, looked a bit disturbed.

"I mean, I am simply amazed by the fact that you remembered that we were coming and showed up on time." Malva continued in the same tone. "And you didn't even fall over in your excitement."

"Ah, there is the Malva I have known for years." Azure dryly remarked. Korrina just slapped her cousin on the back of her head in response. Azure hissed at her cousin.

"Arceus, that hurts Korr. You are stronger then you think."

The younger blonde just shrugged and squatted to pet Espeon, who started purring at the soft ministrations.

"Little traitor, you are supposed to be on my side." Azure grabbed her Pokémon and held the purple cat gently in her arms. The cat head butted her trainer on the chin in an attempt to reassure her pouty trainer.

"Anyway, welcome to Corona City, the home of the Metria League. We are pleased to be able to host this great event and hope you will be able to enjoy your stay. Yadda, yadda." Azure waved one hand around since she was still holding Espeon.

Max, who had just arrived, snorted in response. Azure ignored him. She still hadn't forgiven him for the photos, she had destroyed at least five of them already, but they keep appearing in the weirdest spots. Like her bathroom. After she stepped out of the shower. She could have sworn that it hadn't been there before.

Anyway, she spotted members of the Kanto and Johto League stepping out of the cars. It had been three seconds before her hand was grabbed and someone was proposing to run away and get married.

"Brock, it is great to see you again. Could you let go of my hand now, please?" She should have seen this coming. He kept spouting romantic things to her and Espeon was not amused by the attempt to seduce her trainer and she scratched the dark-skinned gym leader on the face. He fell over and grabbed his face.

All Azure could do was just nervously laugh at Brock. In the meantime, the other members had walked over the group of seven people standing in front of the mansion. Azure greeted Lorelei , Pryce, and Will who didn't even acknowledged Brock lying on the ground.

"Uh, welcome to Corona City?" Azure was having trouble speaking since Brock was distracting her. It didn't take long for him to recover and pick a new victi… romantic interest. This time, it was the pink-haired Fire-type trainer. Korrina excused herself and went to her room, she knew how it was going to end.

Malva wasn't paying attention to Brock. She had taken an interest in the dark-haired Flying-type trainer. Was his name Alex? Oh, well, it didn't matter what his name was. He looked fun to play with and that was all that mattered to her. Before she could make a step in his direction, she was stopped by the dark-skinned gym leader from Kanto.

"Oh, beautiful flower of the most beautiful region in the world would you do me the incredible favor of going out on a date with me?" He pulled a bouquet of flowers out of nowhere, offering it to the now fuming Malva. True to the Pokémon she trained, Malva was close to spitting fire at the interruption.

"Get out of my way." She told him in a voice that could freeze over a volcano. He didn't notice and pulled out more flowers to give to her.

Max was mildly interested in how he did it, but even Max was reluctant to go near the dude.

"Why did you take him along again?" Azure asked Lorelei, as she watched the scene take place in front of her eyes.

"I honestly can't remember why?" The Elite Four Member shook her head, taking in the common scene. It wasn't the first time it had happened, but this was really getting out of hand. Imagining Malva spitting fire wasn't that hard anymore.

Malva had enough and pulled back her leg. Brock was nice and unsuspecting of her true intentions and went on one knee, giving Malva a better angle.

The crowd could see it coming. Brock was nailed right in the nads by the fiery trainer.

The men-folk stiffened and gulped. Will shuffled with his feet until he was behind Azure and Lorelei. Making sure that she would hear him, he quickly to the girls that he would be going to his room. Pryce shook his head at the antics of the youngsters and made his way to the front doors. Azure had given them the keycards needed to get into their rooms and quick directions to get there.

Brock was lying on the ground, groaning and moaning in pain. Azure gestured for an Alakazam guard to deposit him in his designated room and just get him out of the way.

Malva was glaring at the disappearing form of the nuisance she had to deal with.

Max just had to open his mouth to address the situation. "A very typical reaction. I shouldn't have expected any different."

A slapping sound was heard and Max smirked at the noise. He could see Taku trying not to look and failing miserably. Grey was shaking his head frantically, trying to stir his fellow Elite Four member away from the raging volcano.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Malva's voice was soft and dangerous. Slowly turning around to face the smirking Max, she had a twitchy smile on her face. Her left eye was twitching from the barely repressed rage.

"You heard me, didn't you? Or maybe you are also…" Max poked a little deeper.

It was enough for the already furious Malva and she spun around to Azure.

"I don't care who is going to fight him I want to humiliate him. Make it happen! You will go down." At the last bit, she pointed to Max, with a shaking finger.

Azure nodded silently. That was surprisingly quick. And expected.

"Malva, Lorelei here is scheduled to fight Max, but maybe she will agree to a double battle?" After a nod of agreement from the aforementioned trainer, Azure continued. "You could fight him at the same time, on a field that is not filled with water." At this, she got weird looks from everyone that was still outside. Malva just gave her consent and left. She needed to plan out Alex's doom.

She just gave them a stare back. "What? He isn't allowed to fight near water with his team. Ever since…"

"Alex here blew up the plumbing system of our water stadium last year. He got a two-year ban after that. Yo, by the way."

They all turned to see Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four and Champion Cynthia standing there. Flint was grinning and giving Max a thumbs up. Azure gave a tired sigh and greeted them.

"Welcome to our home, please make yourself comfortable. Flint, that doesn't mean you can set fire to anything or blow something up." She warned the Afro head. He just waved it off and threw his arm over her shoulders.

"That means I can't pay you back for what you did three years ago. Your face was so cute when you realized the damage you and Salamence had wrought in the main stadium." He pinched her red face. She was trying to throw off his arm and make him stop pinching her face. It was too late as a camera flash went off and she could see Max grinning.

"I am going to make you pay one day, Alex. I swear I will be able to." She seethed from her spot underneath Flint's arm. Another arm was put on her when, and looking to the side she saw that Sidney had decided to join the pick on Azure game.

"So shorty, blown up any other stadiums, since the last time I saw you?" He asked the blonde, who was annoyed like no other had done before.

Stomping her heels first on Flint's toes and then Sidney's, she got away from the disasters and went to greet Drake and to her happy surprise, Steven Stone.

"Steven! I didn't know you would be coming." Letting down Espeon from her arms, she was quickly embraced by the Steel-type trainer. He actually picked her up a few inches and she had to beg to be let down. Her gray eyes were twinkling happily.

The Sidney and Drake didn't bat an eyelash at their behavior and just introduced themselves to the others. Grey had made thankful use of the distraction they provided and presented Cynthia with a carefully picked flower and a single compliment. She was flattered. But not interested. And Grey slunk away almost unnoticed.

"So young lady. You are a champion now, and you need to start conducting yourself properly." Drake went on a spiel about behavior and Azure knew she wouldn't be able to get out of it. She just nodded at the right times and pretended to listen. She had heard this all before when he lectured her on how to behave as the winner of the Evergrande Conference.

No blowing up gyms and stadiums was number one on the How to Behave-list.

Second was to keep up with her work.

Don't get sloppy with training.

Stay humble, do not get prideful.

She could recite it from memory if she wanted, but stayed silent because the others seemed to enjoy her misery very much.

Taku was staring at her idol with big eyes. He was really here and Azure knew him pretty well if she had read the signs correctly. She took her brown eyes of him briefly when Drake started talking to Azure about proper conduct. It was quite funny to see Azure just thoughtlessly nod to whatever the Dragon-type expert was saying. The faces she was making were quite funny too.

"So, you are another trainer that specializes in Steel-types, huh? You don't see that often these days." She turned her head and looked into molten golden eyes, framed with steel-blue hair. She blinked twice. She didn't outwardly react, but her mind was a different story.

'HE is talking to me. Oh, My Arceus. HE IS TALKING TO ME. He IS so great.' A miniature Taku could be seen glomping a stuffed Steven plushie. The Taku started drooling at the fact that he was actually talking to her. Oh wait, maybe it was better to pay attention. She shook her head and gave Steven a nervous smile.

"Hi, I am Taku. But you probably knew that already." Taku stepped closer and felt her foot bump into something. She was sure there was nothing in the way, but she was still falling forward.

Strong arms interrupted her fall toward the ground and when she dared to look again, she was held just inches from the ground.

The miniature fangirls in her head went off again and her mind was blissfully unaware of Max high-fiving something.

Steven was saying something. What was he saying? No, he was asking something. If she was alright?

Taku nodded dumbly. He let out a sigh of relief and hauled her back on her feet. When she still didn't say something, he started panicking. This attracted Azure's attention, who came over to access the problem. Thinking she had the solution, the champion of Metria slapped the back of Taku's head.

Taku grabbed the back of her head and started complaining about abusive bosses, but it was over soon and she was happily talking to a confused Steven. Azure just shook her head. The next few days were going to be horribly fun, weren't they? She then saw Max standing next to Flint and Sidney. The three of them snickering and scheming. Azure felt the desperate need to bash her head into something.


	7. Why Me?

A bit of a warning, this chapter is quite battle heavy. But other than that enjoy!

Metria 7: Why me?

* * *

"Alright, I think that is everyone that was coming. With Steven as the secret third member from Hoenn." Here Azure winked at the Hoenn Champion. He smiled back from his spot next to an almost drooling Taku. Espeon crooned at her obviously happy trainer.

"I am glad you could all make it. This is the first time so many representatives could make it to here. " A big smile graced Azure's face. Steven and Drake decided to make their way inside and check out the rooms prepared for them. Azure set out to follow them and get away from the two stooges and Max.

She was stopped in her tracks when Lorelei grabbed her arm. Softly the elder woman pulled her back and leaned forward to whisper softly in the blonde's ear.

It pulled Max's attention, what could the Ice specialist have to say to Miss Champion? Taking a better look he could see that her hands were clenched harshly, turning white. The proud girl was looking at the ground and he saw her opening and closing her mouth, trying to say something. Straining his ears he tried to hear what her answer was.

"I miss… so unbelievable… But…" Biting on her lip, the champion looked more fragile than he had seen her before. Max felt like he was intruding and focused back on the conversation that Sidney and Flint had started with Grey.

Lorelei had released her and went inside. Azure just stood there thinking. Could it be true? She let out a shaky breath and shook her head. She didn't dare hope. Espeon crooned at her and Azure gave her partner a sad smile.

"Someone carry my bags to my accommodation now, please." A shrill voice cut through the air. It made Azure freeze up. Her left eye started to twitch, as she processed the voice. Oh, please. Dear Arceus, please no. Tell her it wasn't…

"You with the white hair. Get my bags and bring them to my rooms."

Azure's eyes widened, did that pest just order around one of her Elite Four Members? She acted without thinking.

"Grey, could you show Sidney and Flint to the training grounds? They seem a bit anxious as if they need to burn some energy." Her voice was low and sharp. Grey nodded and gestured for the two to follow him quickly. He had a small show of her temper before and he didn't feel like experiencing the whole thing. Shrugging, the two friends walked after Grey, who was telling little things about the League grounds.

Turning around, Azure coolly met the maroon eyes of the Unova Champion. Her Espeon hissed at her trainer, she needed to calm down. Azure heeded the warning.

"You have some nerve to order around one of the Metria Elite Four members, Iris." She had to look down to be able to look the smaller girl in the eyes, which gave her a small sense of satisfaction.

Unova Champion Iris stood there with a defiant look on her face. She waved her hand dismissively at Azure's words and greeted Cynthia with a smile on her face.

"Iris, I thought Grimsley said that none of you would be able to make it. I spoke to him two days ago." Azure was getting agitated when Iris kept on ignored her.

"So, I heard that you were organizing a small battle event, Blue." Iris yawned.

"Azure and yes, we are holding one-on-one battles the day after tomorrow. Well, Max has somehow managed to get roped into a double battle against Lorelei and Malva, but that aside everyone has already been scheduled with their opponents known in advance for days." Azure was rubbing her temples in an attempt to alleviate her upcoming headache.

"But why am I not on the schedule? I need to show my audience the beauty and strength of Dragon-type Pokémon!" Iris's eyes were sparkling as she made her declaration.

Azure inched closer to Max and stage whispered to him.

"Make sure to add delusions of grandeur to her file." Max nodded gravely.

"We had no indication that you would be arriving for the event, nobody signed you up." Azure shrugged. "Besides, we have a battle between Spencer and Drake so Dragon-types are showcased in the event plenty."

The Unova champion was not happy and stomped on the ground in frustration.

"But I need to fight against someone, even if it is just you."

Azure gave a sinister smile and she grabbed a Poké Ball from the belt around her waist.

"Hey Iris, I know somebody that wants to fight," Her voice was too sweet and the others noticed it, Cynthia just shook her head, Max looked on interested and Taku, well Taku was still in Stevenland.

"That somebody really _missed_ you." With that, Azure released her Weavile. The Dark/Ice-type was slightly confused as to why he was summoned until he saw Iris. Soon the smile on his face matched the one on his trainer's face.

The dark-skinned champion grew suspiciously pale as she watched the Weavile grin at her.

"Weavile it is time to go play." Her Weavile cackled and chased after Iris, who ran away screaming.

"Don't even ask," Azure said after catching the stares send her way.

* * *

"Welcome everybody to Corona City! Today is the first time that this stadium will be used for official matches. With me are Steven and Cynthia, the champions of Hoenn and Sinnoh respectively." Azure waved at the crowd in the stands, receiving loud cheers. She was wearing a headset that would allow her to commentate on the matches that were being fought. Seated next to her were Cynthia and Steven, also wearing a headset.

"Good morning, Metria. It is lovely to be here." Cynthia smiled at the camera in front of them.

Steven just nodded in response.

The Elite four members and foreign gym leaders were sitting behind them, only Spencer and Drake weren't there.

"Our first match of today is Spencer of the Metria League against Drake of the Hoenn League. Steven, who do you think has the best chance of winning?" Cynthia looked to her left.

"Based on experience, Drake, but I think Spencer would have some tricks up his sleeve to make the match exciting," Steven replied.

"In principle, I have to disagree with you, Steven." Azure smiled at him and he waved it off. It was expected.

"We have held a poll and a staggering 70% is in favor of Drake and 30% is confident in Spencer's skills. So, please show your support as they are coming onto the field right now." Azure smiled as the crowd cheered.

Spencer was nervous as he walked onto the field. The cheers were helping calm down his nerves quite a bit, but he was trying his hardest not to leg it. Altaria soared past him at the moment he left the tunnel and stepped through the opening.

The wonderful bird flew once around the stadium, trailing colorful music notes as she flew. Many ooh's and ahh's were heard from the crowd and even Azure couldn't help but giggle. Luckily, her mic was off.

Spencer smiled and held out his arm so Altaria could land. The majestic bird did so and rubbed her cheek against his.

Drake had a sober entrance that still received many cheers. He waved briefly before moving to meet Spencer in the center of the field.

"Alright, ladies and gentleman, as you all know the matches being fought are one-on-one matches, with one last minute exception. Both participants will only have one Pokémon, so they will have to choose wisely." Azure's voice was heard over the speakers.

After shaking hands, Spencer and Drake strode to their respective positions.

Drake called out his Salamence, the mighty beast roared its pleasure at being able to fight and stomped on the ground with his legs.

Altaria looked ready to fight, but Spencer held her back.

"I want to try something, okay?" The bird nodded and Spencer pulled out a different Poké Ball.

"Noivern, battle stance!" Spencer called out his Noivern and he looked poised to battle.

"It is Salamence against Noivern in this first battle. Both are Dragon/Flying Pokémon, but Noivern is known to be agiler than the tank that Salamence is." Cynthia commented, taking a sip of her water.

"It looks like it is going to be a fun battle." Azure nodded to the other blonde.

The referee flagged and the match had begun and both Dragon-types took to the air, circling each other and awaited commands from their trainers.

"Salamence! Flamethrower!" Drake called out first.

Salamence inhaled sharply and breathed the flames out. Noivern dodged the stream of flames and flew around the other dragon with his superior speed.

"Noivern! Retaliate with Air Slash!" Spencer shouted out, he was getting into his battle groove.

Noivern's wings glowed, and the bat-like Pokémon rushed in, as bolts of energy shot out at Salamence at close range. The mighty beast shrugged off the attack as if it was nothing at all. The strong attack hadn't even left a scratch.

It was still annoyed with the other Dragon and Salamence struck back with a Dragonbreath that hit Noivern at point blank. The attack caused massive damage to Noivern.

"It seems that the Dragonbreath left Noivern paralyzed," Steven remarked.

"That is going to hurt." Azure winced.

Spencer gritted his teeth as he saw what happened next.

Salamence took a big chance and struck the slower Noivern with Dragon Tail. The black Pokémon flew back and only just avoided being slammed into a wall.

Spencer felt slightly intimidated that Noivern was getting so drastically overwhelmed. He saw Salamence charging a Hyper Beam and decided to do something drastic.

"Noivern! Use Boomburst!" Spencer called out in desperation.

Noivern nodded and powerful sound-waves pulsed out from his ears just as the Hyper Beam was launched. The two attacks collided and canceled each other out with a big blast in the middle of the arena.

Salamence could barely move as the attack was a huge drain on his energy. Noivern took this opportunity as Spencer called out a Dragon Pulse.

Salamence took the attack with ease, but heaved heavily, trying to gather his energy again. He roared as Drake ordered a Dragon Rush attack. Cloaked in a deep purple aura, the Salamence flapped his wings to gain height.

Spencer saw Noivern look back at him and nod as Salamence climbed high in the air.

"Draco Meteor!" Spencer called out the finisher move.

Noivern gathered all the energy he had and concentrated it into his open maw. The resulting orb of energy shot out, just as Salamence rushed toward Noivern. The energy from the Draco Meteor split apart into many pieces and collided with Salamence as he struck Noivern.

Dust covered the battlefield from the resulting explosion and nothing could be seen. When the dust cleared a bit and two silhouettes could be seen through the dust and Drake smirked.

The dust settled down and Noivern was struggling to keep himself up. Salamence was about to stand in victory when he suddenly collapsed. Drake and Spencer stared in shock until Noivern started screeching in triumph.

"Salamence is unable to continue fighting, Noivern wins." The referee shouted in the silence. It remained quiet for a bit.

"It seems that Noivern has won the match." Cynthia's voice cut through the air and Spencer stopped blinking in shock.

"We… we won? We won!" Spencer gasped in surprise as he and Altaria ran over to Noivern.

Noivern started purring when Spencer scratched under Noivern's chin and on his neck.

"Noivern, you were amazing! I'm so proud! Hahaha!" Noivern shared his joy by licking Spencer's face, which tickled him. "Noivern! Stop it! I can't take the licking!"

* * *

"What a great first match of today!" Azure cheered loudly. Steven was shaking his head at her and Cynthia just laughed softly. It had ended differently than they had thought, but it was in Azure's glee, Spencer who won.

"I do have to say that getting in close was a fault from Spencer." Azure remarked. "He knows that Salamence are usually close range attackers. But I have to say that I did not see the paralyze coming."

Cynthia nodded. "Exactly, other than that the battle was well-executed."

"And know it is time for Elite Four member Alex against Lorelei and Malva… What wait?" Steven looked confused to the schedule in front of him.

Azure scratched the back of her neck.

"Yeah, Alex had an altercation with Malva a few days ago and she wanted to fight him, so this is the solution we came up with." She said Mareepishly.

Spencer and Drake had vacated the field and Malva and Lorelei had made their way to their side of the field. Max, on the other hand, was taking his sweet time to get there.

On the outside, Max looked calm and confident, but internally he was worried. He was about to send out his Pokémon to face two seasoned Elite Four members. He took a deep breath before stepping on the field, composed and meeting their gazes with an emotionless glare.

Malva lazily stared back at him her entire demeanor screamed arrogance while Lorelei kept herself disciplined showing no emotion.

"Pidgeot, Gyarados. Give them hell." Max ordered his eyes hardening, as the 9 ft. bird of prey and the absolutely gigantic serpent materialized on the field.

"Malva, I'll take the Gyarados. You can take down the Pidgeot." Lorelei ordered towards Malva who grinned at her. "With pleasure."

The ladies lobbed their Poké Balls in the air. A red and white bird of prey like Pidgeot appeared from Malva's Poké Ball, however, the air seemed to warm up slightly around it. Lorelei had chosen a gigantic Lapras, easily bigger than most of its kind.

"It seems like this will be a tough fight for both sides, Malva and Lorelei have the type advantage, but Alex is probably better coordinated," Steven spoke up. His co-commentators agreed with him. "This will be another close match."

"Alright, are both sides ready? Then begin!" The referee shouted.

Max felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead. Lorelei's Lapras was powerful enough to cool down the area around and Malva's Talonflame was powerful enough to do the opposite. Charizard could only do that thanks to the open flame.

He shook the thoughts off slightly before speaking up.

"Shall we start or continue staring at each other?" Max asked with a smirk forming on his face. His Pokémon could handle this, he trusted that they would succeed.

"Talonflame, could you please tear the Pidgeot out of the sky?" Malva asked a bit mockingly, at the same time as Lorelei ordered. "Be careful Lapras, the Gyarados is sure to be powerful."

Then it descended into a bit of chaos.

Gyarados instantly shot out the intense Flamethrower that it had been charging. Lapras shot an Aurora beam right into it, nullifying it completely. Within a second, the Lapras send another one at Gyarados. He opened his mouth and a sphere of fire blasted out towards the beam matching it before an explosion resulted and smoke covered that part.

Pidgeot and Talonflame were up in the sky sending Whirlwinds and Air Slashes at each other. There was a clash as they clawed at one another drawing a small bit of blood.

"Pour on the speed!" Max shouted into the air at Pidgeot, who cawed back at him. The bird nodded before becoming faster as air resistance assisted her flight.

"Stop holding back Talonflame, show 'em whose boss," Malva ordered with an arrogant smile.

"Lapras, Hail," Lorelei ordered before ice began falling from the sky.

"What the hell, Lorelei?" Malva rounded on her as the battle continued.

"Just go into Brave bird, it'll turn to vapor before it hits Talonflame," Lorelei replied sounding a little annoyed at her fellow elite.

There was an explosion as a Hyper beam collided with a Sheer Cold. Gyarados seemed annoyed at this before firing another Hyper Beam, ignoring the slowly growing fatigue.

Lapras simply shot out another Sheer Cold, it resulted in yet another explosion.

"Yes, ladies and gentlemen. It is completely safe, even if the battlers seem insistent on blowing up the arena." Azure commented as she heard some screams from the crowd.

Steven coughed out a hypocrite and Azure ignored him.

There was a roar as Gyarados began slithering across the grassy field towards Lapras. The gentle dinosaur remained calm and shot another Aurora beam toward the giant snake. Gyarados fired electricity from his crest at the beam. Surprisingly it matched while ignoring the dents forming on his scales.

Pidgeot and Talonflame at this stage had been blurs to the spectators. The hail was damaging Pidgeot, who was starting to fly slower as the cold froze her feathers together. Talonflame was quite literally on fire, shooting out small streaks of flames at Pidgeot. The large bird of prey had trouble avoiding them. It was beginning to look bad for Pidgeot.

Max bit his lip. He could get Pidgeot to use that move, but it'd be a revealing something he'd rather keep hidden for now. It could cost him a truly important battle later on. Best to keep his tricks to himself...

There was another clash between the birds. which sent Pidgeot back through the air. She managed to catch herself before being hit again at full force by Talonflame. The bird was unable to remain awake and plummeted to the ground, unconscious. Max returned her just in time to prevent her from falling on the ground.

"And Alex has lost his Pidgeot. What a shame." Cynthia observed the battle with an expert eye.

"Talonflame, good job. The Gyarados next, thank you." Malva said almost mockingly.

"Focus on the battle Malva, mock the loser later." Lorelei snapped at her before going back to her calm persona.

"You know I'm right here don't you?" Max asked rhetorically with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you were smart enough to know that."

The response was cut off by another explosion as Gyarados was hit by a Fire Blast, curtesy of Talonflame which made Gyarados turn and roar at Talonflame. He send out a river of water with his Hydro pump. Talonflame had to roll to avoid the water attack, but Gyarados just shifted his head to the side.

The beam caught Talonflame, whose fire was put out. The bird was carried off a bit before the water dropped and Talonflame fell barely catching itself from hitting the ground. The bird was very damaged from the move and the fight with Pidgeot.

"Gyarados roll!" Max shouted as Lapras had sent a Thunder from its horn at Gyarados, who barely managed to dodge it. The water serpent retaliated with a Fire blast which was nullified by an Aurora beam once more.

Gyarados was then hit by a Fire blast scorching its scales more and as Gyarados shifted to fire another Hydro pump at Talonflame, a Sheer Cold hit, taking him out of the game.

"Both Pidgeot and Gyarados are unable to continue. Lapras and Talonflame win!" The outcome was called.

Max stared at Gyarados for a few second before raising a Poké Ball and returned Gyarados with a sigh.

"I can't say I expect any another result. You're only one person, a new elite and quite young." Lorelei spoke breaking the silence as she returned her own Pokémon while Malva did the same.

"And then there's the whole thing that we're a lot better at this than you." Malva piped up smugly.

"You're right Lorelei," Max responded the beginnings of a smirk beginning on his face.

"Don't you ignore me!" Malva shouted at him as the smirk got wider and Lorelei caught on.

"So how's the weather Lorelei, now that the hail stopped?" Max asked casually still ignoring Malva.

She fumed and stomped away, making both Max and Lorelei grin.

* * *

"That was a great battle in which both skill and determination were showcased. In the end, Malva and Lorelei pulled through and are going home with the win under their belts." Cynthia was the first to break the silence in the commentator box.

"Alex did well, but in the end, Malva and Lorelei took advantage of the fact he needed to split his attention," Azure commented on the match. She hadn't expected another outcome, but secretly she had hoped that he would pull through.

Steven looked at the time. "It seems that we would have time for another battle before the big break, since…"

A loud whoop was heard and two blurs ran out of the box, eager to get started.

"It seems that we will have the battle between Sidney and Grey now, instead of after the break. So give it up for our Dark-type specialists!" Azure sweat dropped. She should have expected this.

The two trainers appeared on the field minutes later and they quickly set up.

"Let's go, Sol!" Grey shouted excitedly. His Absol appeared high in the sky and flipped down, landing neatly on his paws.

"How did you guess?" Sidney shouted over the field, happy at Grey's choice. He lobbed his own Poké ball in the air and another Absol materialized.

"A battle between two Absol? That is going to be interesting, I wonder?" Azure was talking to herself, forgetting the mic was still on. Steven heard her.

"You think that they will use that?" He asked her.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to use it." She replied to Steven. Cynthia was looking confused between the two.

"What are the two of you talking about?" She asked.

Azure pointed at the field and simply said. "That."

"It seems that both battlers have opted for Mega Evolution. And this could be one fast paced battle." Steven remarked as he leaned back into his chair.

"If both trainers are done, the fight begins!" The referee called out.

The two mega evolved Absol stared each other down in the long silence. An air of tension swept through the battle field. Finally. Sidney started the fight.

"Absol, quick attack!" Sidney hollers, right off the bat.

Sidney's Absol was on Sol within the blink of an eye, and Sol had no time to react. He cried out as he was struck.

"Keep up the pressure!" Sidney called, his Absol continued an onslaught of quick attacks, striking Sol multiple times, and was not slowing down in the slightest.

Sol's eyes flashed a blue color and made a seemingly impossible dodging maneuver to escape the quick attacks, a sign of a successful Detect.

"Alright, Dark Pulse!" Grey shouted.

Sol nodded and then emitted a Dark Pulse, making close range contact with Sidney's Absol. It recovered quickly and already began rushing Sol again.

"Night Slash!" Sidney called, his Absol used its wings to propel itself forward. Sol mimicked the command just in time, the two clashed claws, bearing dark matter and bad intentions.

"It seems that Sol is in big trouble! Can the tides still change?" Azure was completely focused on the fight. The momentum of the opponent was too great for Sol to withstand and he was being pushed back, losing ground.

Grey saw this and decided to make a call out, "Use it again!"

Sol understood and released another Dark Pulse, launching the other Absol back.

"That was a good move Mr. Greyson. Glad you're making this fun! Absol, Razor Wind and Aerial Ace!" Sidney called out.

With a flap of its wings, gales of violent winds whipped around Absol, who then jumped into the air and riding the wind, in an aggressive combo. Once again, his enemy's speed was too great for Sol to avoid. He just barely managed to use his horn to intercept the other Absol, causing great temporary pain, but not like if it had been a direct hit.

The two were held at a stalemate, trying to force one another back.

"Bite!" Sidney yelled and his Absol sank its teeth into Sol's horn, then threw him out of the way.

"Great! Now slash!" The Absol rushed at Sol again, claws gleaming for pain. It struck Sol right in the side, but he then disappeared.

"A sub? Wait…" Sidney murmured and noticed how Absol was completely surrounded by dozens of Sol's.

"There we go bud!" Grey calls, applauding the Double Team Sol pulled off.

The Sol's started spinning in a cyclone around Absol, and simultaneously released a Shadow Ball. They were too fast and Sidney's Absol couldn't avoid any of them, much less the real one. It was launched back towards Sidney.

"Sol, try their game, offense, full blast." Sol nodded and used Sword Dance followed by Quick Attacks, ramming into Sol violently.

"X-Scissor!" Sidney called, but Sol was able to avoid the attack from listening to the call out. Absol kept attempting the X-Scissor, remaining very persistent. Until it suddenly turned around and smacked Sol with a surprise Iron Tail. It launched Sol into the air, where Absol followed up with the super effective X-Scissor, then flew up above Sol and used Rock Smash, smacking him into the ground.

"That was a nice combo from Absol," Cynthia smiled at Azure, who pouted in return.

"Sol! You good?" Grey yelled out, Sol was rising to his feet and gave out a brief nod.

"Alright, awesome. Just be careful, you won't be able to take that again." Grey was worried, but he was having a lot of fun too.

"Quick attack!" Sidney hollered and his Absol raced after Sol, who used Double Team again. Absol attacked each one, eliminating them quickly, and soon there were none, not even the real one.

He looked around confused.

"Above you, Absol!" Its trainer called worriedly, but it was too late. Sol was in its face with a massive Aerial Ace, striking Absol and used the momentum to carry it into the air, then dropping it.

"Absol! Alright! Finish this Absol! Superpower!"

"Damn! Sol, Elemental Devastation!"

Absol rushed after Sol with an immense strike loaded up, one that could take complete control of a match. Sol jumped back and launched a dense beam of or spiraling red, blue, and yellow colors. Absol ran directly into the beam, with such power it pushed through it, hitting Sol as he crashed into the back wall. A thick dust covered the arena.

When it cleared, it revealed Absol, collapsed where it hit Sol. And Sol knocked out in a crater in the wall. They were both devolved from their mega stage.

"Both Pokémon are unable to continue, it is a draw!"

"A draw? I don't remember the last time that happened. And, what was that Elemental Devastation?" Sidney asked, picking up his Absol.

"A combo move we cooked up. Consisting of Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower." Grey answered retrieving Sol.

"And that wraps up the battles for this round, we are taking a break and the next battle between Taku and Will will commence at two o'clock. Be sure to be back in the stands by then!" Azure spoke through her mic, to the loud cheers of the crowd.


	8. Unfinished Business

I'm so sorry for not uploading for two weeks. Exams are a nightmare and I had to concentrate on that first. But I am back with the next installment and I hope you all like it.

Chapter 8: Unfinished Business

* * *

"I can't believe how well you have all done." Azure gushed to her Elite Four. They were sitting in a private training ground to eat lunch. Originally, she had planned to just eat on the fair ground, but as soon as Azure had set foot outside the stadium, she had been flooded by the press. It had been Max, who pulled her away from them and just pushed through the crowd dragging her with him by her collar. She had started cussing at him, while still in earshot of the press. Max had just grinned all the way to the training fields.

Grey gave her a thumbs up, his mouth was stuffed with food. His Absol was laying on the ground next to him dozing off after a hard fought battle. Max just shrugged at her while eating his food in a more dignified manner. His Pokémon had been beaten up quite badly and were at the Pokémon Center. Malva and Lorelei were tough. The last combatant, Spencer, was staring off into space. Azure had an inkling that the Dragon-type trainer was daydreaming about a certain black-haired beauty.

His partner Altaria was miffed at her trainer. She was not amused by the fact that he wasn't paid much attention to her. So she flew up a tree and went to sleep.

Azure giggled at the bird. That little diva never ceased to amuse her. She had one hand covering her mouth as she didn't think people would appreciate it to see her half eaten food and the other held a sandwich with a bite out of it. When she went to take another bite, she noticed that her Jolteon had come a little too close to her food. Raising her eyebrow, she quickly held it up to defend it from the Electric-type. Smiling in triumph, she leaned a bit closer to her Pokémon and stuck her tongue out.

"Not for you, too bad." She whispered to Jolteon. The Electric-type gave her a grin in return. She was a bit confused about his lackluster reaction but tried to shrug it off.

Then her hand was empty. The female champion was looking around to see where her food had gone and finally saw that her Espeon had it and was sharing it with Jolteon.

"No, Espeon, Jolteon that is my food!" She scrambled to save her sandwich from her greedy Pokémon but held just a few crumbs of her lovely ham and cheese sandwich. Fake tears were streaming down her face as she stared at whatever was left.

She could hear Max and Grey laughing their heads off. She turned her head to them and her eyes were hidden in the shadows of her hair. Grey could swear that her eyes had turned a glowing red afterward, as she threw her best glare. A dark aura had cloaked her form and with her red eyes, she was scaring the living daylights out of him.

"Grey, Max, I suggest you start running. She looks like she is going to lunge at you." Taku quipped from her stone, where she was sitting sharing her food with Maya the Mawile. She was giggling happily at the show that her friends were putting up. As long as she wasn't pulled into it.

And indeed, Azure lunged at Grey. She knew that it was better to leave Max alone, but Grey was free game. He scrambled upright and took off with Azure hot on his heels. She was just a bit faster than he was, so he had to devise a way to get away from the angry champion.

He climbed into a tree. She stood under the tree watching him carefully. He just had a smug grin on his face as he sat on the tree branch out of her reach. She took a sprint and using the tree as leverage she almost managed to grab his ankles. In response, he just pulled up his feet and she missed. Her landing was smooth and she just tried again. After the second time, she gave up. She did break off a tree branch that Grey had used to get in the tree. Smiling, she called her Pokémon.

Max was still laughing. Clutching his camera, he fell over backward. It had come to the point where tears started to leak from his eyes. Azure stalked by him, trying to look dignified. Her Pokémon padded after her, noses up and Espeon swished her tail daintily from side to side. Max sobered up after that, he shot Taku a look to keep her mouth shut. She just gave him an innocent look.

Grey gave a sigh of relief and went to climb down the tree, but he missed the branch and fell out of the tree. It set off both Taku and Max again.

* * *

Azure walked by the restaurants and the small shops. Since her Pokémon had eaten her lunch, she was looking for something to eat. Should she get another sandwich at a small shop or something else? Choices to make.

"Azure! Wait up."

The blonde looked behind her to see Flint running up to her. His red afro was bouncing as he ran to catch up with her.

"Hey, Flint. How did you like the fights?" She asked as she waited for him. Her Espeon meowed a greeting to him. Jolteon was distracted by something and his sister whacked him to draw his attention back.

"They were great! I mean that last battle between Sid and Grey was awesome. That Elemental Devastation was amazing. Wish I thought of it first." Flint threw an arm over her shoulders. Azure just rolled her eyes. Together they walked down the road, talking about what had happened to them since they had seen each other last a few years ago.

"You blew up two consecutive gyms within a month?" Flint's laughter could be heard down the road. Azure giggled at his face.

"They were accidents, I didn't mean for it to happen." She fake pouted at him. Espeon and Jolteon trotted in front of them.

"In Luminose, Jolteon and Clemont's Heliolisk got a little too into the fight and used Thunder at the same time. It resulted in a wall blown out. And in Coumarine, Salamence tried his new move that blew a hole in the ceiling. He forgot to aim." Azure told Flint.

"Only you could manage that, Zuzu." He had to dodge a swipe from the girl.

"My name is Azure. I think I like that one even less than Blue." She grumbled at him.

"Too bad, Shorty." He laughed and she just shook her head.

* * *

"We are back again with the match between Metria's Taku and Johto's Will." Azure was back in the commentators' booth with Steven and Cynthia. She had quickly eaten something and then rushed back to the stadium after she had seen the time. She and Flint had forgotten the time.

"It will be an interesting match-up as they specialize in two completely different types." Cynthia started off the conversation.

"Psychic-types are a complete nightmare to fight against. They usually are faster and harder to hit. And I am saying that from experience." Steven replied to Cynthia.

"So, saying that Espeon would be a threat wouldn't be too farfetched?" Azure inquired. She had never fought that many Steel-type Pokémon with Espeon, so it would be good to remember.

"Nope," Was the only thing Steven would say about it.

"Here are the participants." Cynthia pointed to the field.

Taku was nervous for the fight, why did she even agreed to fight in the first place? Maya patted her on the arm, trying to reassure the young trainer. She walked out onto the field and the silence was deafening to her ears. Maya pulled her along and guided her trainer to her box.

Will was already standing on the other side of the field. Lightly tossing his chosen Poké Ball up and down, Will was ready to fight.

The ravenette plucked her own Poké Ball from her belt and held it tightly in her hand.

The referee raised his flags into the air. He looked at the two and nodded.

"If both participants are ready, let the battle begin!" he yelled.

Will was the first to show his hand.

"Xatu! Go!" He yelled as he threw the ball unto his side of the field. The red and white ball burst open when it hit the ground. A beam of white light came out and formed into the shape of the said Psychic/Flying Pokémon.

"Xatu!" The bird-like Pokémon cried out as it raised its long, white with red and black tipped wings into the air before folding them back it front of itself. It stood like a statue on the field.

 _A Flying-type Pokémon…_ Taku thought to herself, _This should be interesting…_

The younger Elite then pulled out her Poké Ball containing her choice of Pokémon for the battle.

"Alright Aaron! Let's roll!" She shouted as she threw the Poké Ball, the ball opened in mid-air and her trusty Aggron was released from his Poké Ball.

The silver and dark gray, steel plated Pokémon let out a mighty roar as it landed on the hard and rocky terrain. The ground trembled from the Iron Armor Pokémon's weight as he landed on the field.

"It is Aggron versus Xatu. The match is heavily favored for Taku, but the results can be surprising." Azure said and watched as it started.

"Alright Aaron, you ready?" Taku asked of the Steel/Rock Pokémon, Aaron replied with a loud battle cry and fist bumping himself.

"Then Aaron! Time to start off with Iron Head!" She yelled. Maya cheered her friend on from beside Taku.

The Aggron bent down so his horned head was aimed at his opponent. The Steel-type Pokémon's head began to glow a bright white, as he charged at Xatu, who refused to move.

"Xatu! Use Confuse Ray!" Will told the Mystic Pokémon.

The green bird raised its wings in the air and let out a cry as its eyes glowed a violet hue, a bright light flashed in front of it.

"W-what!?" Taku exclaimed. She hadn't seen that coming. Maya had to shield her eyes from the light, lest she would get confused too.

Aaron's pale blue eyes widened before shutting tightly. He shook his head from the sudden daze he got from the light. The top of his head stopped glowing as he lost sight of Xatu and instead, rammed into a large boulder. The boulder broke apart from the sudden force and tumbled down onto the Steel-type, almost burying him entirely under the rubble.

"That must hurt!" Cynthia winced, as she followed the path of destruction.

"Aaron, are you alright!?" Taku called out to her Pokémon, worried from his safety.

The Pokémon rose up from the rubble, it was still fine and the boulder didn't cause any serious damage and left little to no scratches on the Iron Armor Pokémon's thick, metal body. But it was noticeable that the Aggron was still dazed from the Mystic Pokémon's Confuse Ray. The small wobbly steps he made were proof of that.

Aaron let out a low cry to signaling Taku that he was alright. The girl let out a sigh of relief and went back to concentrating on the fight.

"Xatu, use Future Sight!" The Psychic Elite said; instructing his Pokémon.

The eyes of the Psychic-Flying Pokémon shimmered blue and then purple as it raised its wings into the air once more, as it prepared the move.

"Aaron! While Future Sight is in progress; use Rock Slide!" The Steel Elite yelled. The crowd was cheering for their Elite. She tried hard to hide her blush, but she didn't quite manage.

Aaron was still confused, Taku's voice sounded nothing more than just a murmur to him, he shook his head furiously trying to snap out of it.

"Aaron? Aaron!" Taku yelled. "Snap out of it! Use Rock Slide."

The Aggron let out a roar of frustration. Finally, the colossal was able to make out what his trainer had yelled out to him. Sloppily, and confused, he raised his head into the air and let out a cry as its body turned white and multiple, white rings of energy formed above and around him. Large chunks of rocks were lifted up from the ground and began to rain down at where the green, bird-like Pokémon.

A silvery, radiating ball of light from above Xatu's head, the Pokémon let out a long, sharp squawk as the ball shot up into the sky disintegrating into tiny particles as it did.

"Xatu! Dodge it!" Will yelled out.

The Pokémon began to rapidly move, trying to dodge the large boulders that were raining down on its head. There was a sharp cry from Xatu as one of the boulders had landed on it. The Flying-type pushed the heavy rock off of its body and stood up. It let out a shriek as it glared at Aaron.

"Alright, Xatu, Psychic!"

Xatu's eyes glowed a purple hue, it crossed it wings before of itself. He flung them open and sent light violet shockwaves towards Aaron. Taku saw them coming and tried to find a way out.

"Aaron! Look out!" Taku yelled.

The purple shockwaves collided with the Aggron. The Steel-type roared loudly, stumbling back and almost losing its balance.

"Come on Aaron!" Taku called out to her Pokémon, "We can do this! Use Flash Cannon!"

Aaron lifted his head upwards in the air, as a silvery gray ball began to form in front of his jaws.

He released it towards his foe, the ball traveling at a quick speed.

"Shadow Ball!" Will instructed his bird Pokémon.

Xatu released a shadowy blob towards the silver gray orb, the two moves collided with each other before clouds of smokes filled the arena. Taku didn't wait for the smoke to clear.

"Now charge at it and use Shadow Claw!" Taku commanded.

Aaron's claws began to envelop itself in a dark, shadowy aura as the Iron Armor Pokémon charged at his opponent through the smoke, he raised his claws into the air, readying his attack.

"Xatu! Psychic!"

Xatu prepared to use Psychic but before it could even use it, Aaron's Shadow Claw hit the bird. His shadow-cloaked claws slashed at the Flying-type's body. Xatu let out another cry as it fell onto its back.

"Yes!" Taku called out.

Suddenly, Xatu's Future Sight activated. A strong wind blew through the arena; a sphere of rainbow colored energy formed out of nowhere. The orb flew towards Aaron, harshly striking the Steel-type. A loud roar seemed to echo through the stadium as both Aaron and Will's Xatu were covered in clouds of dust. It was impossible to look through the dust. Taku couldn't help but cry out.

"A-Aaron!"

There was a long silence before the dust settled down, the Aggron stood there with his head down. A low growl came from him, the crowd cheered loudly. After what felt like minutes, the Steel-type fell to the ground unconscious.

"A-a tie!?" Taku said in surprise. She felt a bit down but also elated. A gasp came from the public that made Taku look at the field again.

There was a twitch coming from Will's Xatu as it slowly opened an eye. The green, bird-like Pokémon heaved itself up from the ground, while Taku's Aggron still remained motionless. The Xatu stood up proudly despite the injuries it had taken, it spread out its wings and let out a loud squawk.

"Aggron is unable to battle! Xatu wins! The match goes to Will from Johto!" the referee announced.

Taku sighed as she returned Aaron to his Poké Ball.

"You did great, Aaron." She gave a small smile and walked over to Will to shake his hand.

"It was a good match. The Future Sight kicked in at the perfect moment." Will spoke and Taku could only nod. At least, she wasn't the only one to lose today. And Azure would probably join the group too. Cynthia was just too good.

* * *

"That was a sad loss for Taku. But she did really well in her first official battle." Spencer said. The crowd was momentarily confused, they hadn't heard that voice through the speaker system before. But when the next voice spoke up, they understood.

"That was spectacular with the easy destruction of that boulder! It crumbled like sand!" Flint was too enthusiastic for his own good and Spencer sighed.

"I am really excited for the next match. Champion against another champion in what is sure to be an amazing match." Flint kept talking not giving Spencer or Steven a chance to respond.

"Not to mention Azure's specialty is probably coming into play." The red haired Elite Four member grinned and rubbed his hands together.

"You don't mean that specialty, do you?" Steven inquired, thinking back to the only time he had seen her fight. It had ended spectacularly. She had won and lost all the money in five seconds.

"Are you guys talking about the fact that she seems to blow up every stadium she fights in?" Spencer was a bit confused and had forgotten that the mic was still on.

Azure had reached the field and was now standing there mortified. She raised a hand and pointed at him with barely repressed rage. Spencer paled. Oops, he really had put his foot in his mouth. He was sure of it when she used her finger to slide across her throat.

His co-commentators were trying to hide their laughter and since they had turned off their mics, it was a lot easier. He just rested his head on the desk.

Max was sitting next to Grey and Iris in the stands and he had had to end of the dark skinned champion for the whole time he had sat in the stands. He had endured an unending stream of dumb remarks and questions from the girl and he was close to throttling her. Right now, he was laughing at the fact that Azure was standing there with a red face.

"What do they mean by specialty? She isn't that special." Her nasal voice was actually hurting his ears.

"Maybe they mean her awesome talent to sing." He snarked at her. Honestly, could she shut up already?

"Why would she sing in a fight?"

Max had to resist the urge to slap her forehead. Grey just laughed on his other side. Max just elbowed the Dark-type trainer in the side and shove him on the ground. Grey grunted in pain as he landed on the spot he had bruised earlier.

"What was that for!" He called out at the other trainer. Max shrugged.

"Maybe Azure's klutziness is contagious, careful or you will catch it."

"Look they are ready to begin," Taku cut in. She had rushed into the stands to catch the next match, she wouldn't want to miss it for the world.

* * *

And indeed, Azure and Cynthia were standing both with one Poké Ball in their hands, ready for the signal to get started. Both women were standing on the field, relaxed and smiling.

"Are you ready, darling?" Cynthia called from her side.

"Always ready to kick some ass, or at least get even," Azure grinned and invited Cynthia to release her Pokémon to the field.

"Battledance, Spiritomb!" The blonde beauty from Sinnoh called out her Pokémon and Azure nodded excitedly. No one would have the advantage this fight.

"Spread the light! Weavile!" She called her own Pokémon out. The crowd was surprised, as were the commentators.

"Weavile against Spiritomb. Neither of the two will have the advantage over the other. This will be a match build on sheer strength and tactics." Flint commented quite soberly, without his usual antics.

"I didn't think that they would both go for their Dark-type." Spencer mused. He hadn't thought about Azure using Weavile, but there he was.

"Most likely they wanted to even the fields as much as possible. Both are known for fighting fair, if not a bit explosive." Steven added.

"If both participants are ready, you may begin!" The referee flagged them and it stayed quiet.

Both women stared each other down before they both spoke at the same time.

"Blizzard."

"Ominous Wind."

Both Pokémon sprang into action. Weavile gathered snow and ice in his claws before clapping them together to bring forth a vicious Blizzard. Spiritomb's face swirled faster and wisps broke off to form a tornado-like construct that clashed with the Blizzard.

Eventually, the Blizzard gave way in the middle and the Ominous Wind broke through. The sides of the field were still covered in the Blizzard and Weavile wasn't seen in the open spot before it closed again.

"Night Slash, Weavile!" Azure commanded. Hit hard, hit fast. And that was Weavile's specialty.

"Rock Tomb, slow it down." Cynthia counteracted. The Blizzard worked two ways, after all, if Spiritomb couldn't see, then Weavile could have problems too.

The ghost made awful noises and stones began to levitate all over the field. It then started to hurl the stones into the Blizzard. It came was a shock when several rocks came back, but none of them hit the ghost.

Weavile appeared out of nowhere and with his claw raised high and filled with dark energy, it came down on the Spiritomb. The ghost made more noises as it writhed around in pain. The spirits could still work together good enough to hurl the last stones straight at Weavile.

The Ice-type gave a gasp as a stone hit his arm before jumping back into the Blizzard.

"Time to spice it up. Use Ice Punch and Dark Pulse." Azure shouted her instructions. Her blood was pumping and she was excited.

She heard Weavile grunt in acknowledgment The little bugger had decided to pay her a visit while he was leaving his opponent to the Blizzard.

"Good boy, now go." She called out softly.

"I can't see nothing on Azure's side of the field." Spencer complained. What was she doing?

"This is part of the Blizzard's Assassin strategy, if I remember correctly. Weavile uses the cover of the Blizzard to make sneak attacks and damage the opponent before they even realize he is there." Steven explained, he had seen it before and even had the chance to talk to her about it.

"It seems like it would be zapping Weavile's strength quite a bit. I wonder how long he can keep this up." The brunet sighed in his mic.

He didn't have to wonder for long, because the moment Weavile launched himself out the snow, the Blizzard dissipated and the battlefield became visible again. It was now covered with a layer of snow that was sparkling in the sunlight.

The Dark-type grinned as he held up his ice-encased hand and the in the other he held the Dark Pulse.

"Time for your Dark Pulse, Spiritomb." Cynthia stepped in, seeing as this attack could do a lot of damage.

The Spiritomb seemed to lose all this color as Weavile landed a perfect hit. But he wasn't able to get back in time and avoid the Dark Pulse from almost point blank. As he tried to salvage the fight by adding his own Dark Pulse into the fray, the resulting explosion launched Weavile backward into a rock.

Spiritomb looked worse for the wear as the dust cleared and a big hole could be seen in the field. Weavile was standing, panting hard and clutching his head, but still looked ready to fight.

As Azure went to shout another command, the whole stadium shook. Outside of the stadium a large smoke column was rising up and the crowd started panicking. Azure was rooted to the spot, watching the smoke at the distance. What had happened?

Switching on the small mic she had, she addressed the crowd. She needed them to call down and leave the stadium.

"Dear everyone, please stay calm and remain seated. We will dispatch someone to check out the situation. We will continue the match shortly. We are sorry for the inconvenience." She gave her best smile and turned the mic off again.

Grabbing her cell, she made a five-way call to the Elites.

"Grey, Taku, crowd control. Max, get ready to investigate, I can't leave right now. After that report to me immediately." Azure started issuing commands to her elite Four.

"Spencer, as soon as we are done here, make sure the guests get to the airport safely." She called out. She got the affirmative from all of them and turned to Cynthia.

"I am sorry, Cynthia. We will finish this battle as promised." Azure grimaced and Cynthia just nodded. One last attack.


	9. Old friends, Snooping, and a Festival

I apologize. I was so busy with my homework and stuff that I forgot all about aLitM. But here is the next chapter! Enjoy.

Metria 9: Old friends, Snooping, and a Festival

* * *

"I understand, Grandfather. There is nothing to worry about at this moment. We have investigated the scene, but nothing has turned up yet. The police has since taken over and we have handed the info and evidence we have found to them as requested." The blonde woman sat in her comfortable desk chair and stared at the screen in front of her with a lazy smile.

"Just be careful, Azure. This doesn't bode well for the next few weeks or even months." Gurkinn said. The elderly man was worried but felt a bit better when Azure admitted that she was no longer part of the investigation.

"I love you too, Gramps. Korrina too. I will call again soon." With that, the conversation was ended and the young woman sighed heavily while she petted the yellow Eeveelution on her lap. Why was everything getting so complicated? She longed for the time before she had received the letter. Everything had been so much simpler.

Azure laid her head down on her pretty cherry wood desk, careful not to squash Jolteon. The days after the exhibition matches had been hard on the new champion. During her match, explosives had gone off a few miles away, but the blast was seen and heard at Corona City. The explosion and the resulting investigation was enough to worry her. Not to mention that Max had come back with an odd report.

When he had arrived at the scene, nothing could be found except the evidence of the explosion. Rocks and debris had littered the grounds, but evidence of humans had not been found at the site. Even after combing out the area, all he found was a dark rainbow-colored stone. Intrigued by the weird looking stone, he had taken it back to the League headquarters and shown it to her and Spencer. She had noted the similarity to her own keystone and had not been that surprised to feel it react to the extra Mega Stone she had on her. The others had agreed with her that it looked very similar to their keystones.

Spencer had taken the thing to his lab for research. The Dragon-type trainer had done some experiments with it and concluded that it functioned as a normal keystone. He and Altaria were able to Mega Evolve without any problems. The only thing that set it apart from the normal keystones was the darker color.

The young woman held up the stone, letting it catch the light of the early sunshine. On the other wall, a muted rainbow appeared. After admiring it for a bit, she sighed. While she liked the strangeness of the stone, she knew better than to show it around and tucked it back in her shirt. There was a reason that that sire had been attacked, what if the attackers had been after the stone?

Azure was worried. Why did the explosion take place? And why on the same day as the matches? No one had been able to provide an satisfying answer and she could see that it was bothering Max. The trainer had been silent on the topic, not contributing much to the conversation and before she could ask more on the topic, he had disappeared, saying he needed to check something out. She huffed at the thought of the Flying-type trainer. What could be more important than the investigation?

"Yo, blondie." Azure rolled her eyes. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. She sat up straight, instead of laying on her desk and stared at the picture perfect vision of Max. Damn him, she probably looked like she had a Rattata's nest on her head. She hadn't had a good night's sleep since the incident and she doubted that she would have one soon.

"Max, why did you rush out of the meeting yesterday?" The young woman yawned softly, as she asked the dark-haired man her question. She knew Zoroark was in the room and gave a small glare at the spot where the Dark-type would probably be. Azure had given up trying to get Zoroark to show herself aside from that first time The Dark-type had kept glaring at her, every other time. The blonde didn't want to get murdered in her sleep after all.

"A hunch," He threw a file on her desk, it landed next to Azure's Espeon. The purple cat hissed and jumped off the desk in a huff. Azure pulled the file closer and opened the file. Her eyebrows almost disappeared under her bangs as she saw what was in it.

"Are you absolutely sure that this is true?" She demanded from him. She prayed that this was just a joke.

"Sadly, yes." He scoffed at the mere hint that he could have been wrong. Azure carefully shooed Jolteon from her lap, as she had a feeling the day would only get worse. The Eeveelutions jumped into their basket glaring at Max. The male trainer didn't even notice them.

"So, Molly has disappeared after an 'anonymous tip' to the police that the Gym was used as an illegal fighting ring and she sanctioned it? What the hell was she thinking? And HOW could she set it up that quickly?" Azure laid her head in her hands, using one to try and stave off the upcoming headache. Why was this happening now? Luckily nobody had challenged Molly yet, so no badges had to be returned or destroyed.

"Maybe because I am better at gaining information than the dupes at the UPL?" The male snarked at her. Sensing he would start glowering at her, she just let it slide. It wasn't worth it and there was a reason that he was in charge of intelligence.

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is the fact we need a replacement as soon as possible. Time to call the dupes at the UPL then." She sighed, as Max grinned. Azure shot an annoyed look at Max. The blonde reached out to her videophone and started dialing the number of Mr. Goodshow.

"Thank you for reporting this. I need to contact the UPL." She dismissed Max and focused on the screen. The male just silently left, with Zoroark quickly following him out of the door.

Azure quickly updated the president on what had happened in the last few weeks and was relieved to hear that she could appoint a new gym leader without much trouble herself. Since the region was now established as a League region, she could appoint Gym leaders, instead of having to wait on the UPL. All she did have to do was to register the person as her new gym leader at the UPL and it was done.

She got some recommendations from the President that they had considered before and she promised that she would immediately look into them. Ending the conversation, she opened the files that the president had sent to her. The young champion quickly scanned through the files and decided to invite three prospects that seemed promising. At least, they wouldn't be so random as Molly had been or as prone as to do something illegal, she hoped. She quickly wrote the invites and laid them in her mail box. They would go out in the morning. Sending a memo to Max to do some background checks on the trainers, she stood up to stretch her legs.

Espeon mewled at her and the girl crouched down to pet her partner and her brother. The Eeveelution duo were her two of her oldest Pokémon, and she loved them dearly even if they could fight like cats and dogs sometimes.

A soft melody spread through the room and Azure was ready to strangle the person that was calling her. It was only ten in the morning for Arceus' sake on a Saturday. Couldn't she have one hour of peace and quiet before the world made its presence known? As the melody became more insistent, she figured that it was apparently not the case. She grabbed her X-Transceiver and, without looking at the number recognition, answered it.

"This is Azure Shalour. How can I help you?" She spoke irritated into the receiver. Looking at the small screen, she raised an eyebrow as she recognized the fact that the male on the other side was wearing an uniform.

"This is Officer Johnson from the Aquila Resort Police Station. There was a disturbance earlier in the town square. The suspect says that you know him." The male officer on the other side of her X-Transceiver spoke quickly. Azure didn't look very happy after all.

"His name is Ainsley Charité and he was detained because of a fight in which someone got hurt." Azure racked her brain to try and remember why that name was so familiar. When it did come to her, she narrowed her eyes.

"Does he have a Shiny Gardevoir, speaks of bloody art and seems like a lunatic most of the time?" She asked dreading the actual answer. She saw the officer look to the side and slowly count up her suggestions.

"Yes, that would be Mr. Charité. Could you please come and get him? His Gardevoir is creeping people out." Johnson confirmed at last. Azure nodded and informed the good man that she would be there in about an hour, if nothing else came up. After saying goodbye, she softly bonked her head against the desk. She was muttering curses under her breath, each of them getting more creative then the last.

Espeon and Jolteon were softly chuckling in their basket and a pointed look in their direction only doubled their mirth.

* * *

After calming down, Azure locked her office and went to find Grey. It was not hard as the white-haired trainer was outside training. She scowled briefly as she remembered the stacks of paperwork that were waiting for him in his office. But she sucked it up and greeted him. She quickly got to the point.

"Grey, I have some things to take care off. So you will be in charge until I get back. Do not allowed either Spencer or Max to blow up something and keep an eye out if Taku wants to train. I do not want a repeat of what happened two days ago." She informed him quickly and without another word, she spun around and walked to the warp point.

Grey was surprised to hear that Azure would be of the premises for that day, as she hadn't left before without it being something that had to do with League business. She was a bit a stick in the mud , she hadn't wanted to go clubbing or explore the other cities. So where was she going? Deep in thought, he didn't notice Max walking up to him, followed by a chattering Taku and Maya the Mawile.

"Darkass, where is Miss Champion?" Max asked, keen to get back to his little projects. He was working on something that would heavily annoy Azure and he wanted it done today. He held the stick with the background files in his hand. The stick was all that separated him from his projects and Max would just have dumped it in Grey's hands to get away from both of the other Elite Four Members. But he saw Grey looking at the warp point. He gave the other male trainer a pointed look.

"She went to the warp points. She said she would be away for the rest of the day. Things to take care off or something. I don't know when she would be back, she said I was in charge until she is." Grey ignored Max's nickname and turned to get back to training.

"Away? I thought she had more paperwork to do? Especially since there was a bit of a situation this morning." Max mused. Zoroark privately agreed with her trainer. Grey turned back to look at Max. His Mightyena came over and butted his head into his trainer's leg. The green-eyed man just petted the dark-colored hound on his head.

"A situation?" Taku piped up, curious. Max didn't respond, instead, a sinister grin plastered itself on his face. What could the goody two shoes be up to? His mind was twisting and turning. Unconsciously he started walking in the same direction his boss had went just a short while ago.

"Max, what are you doing?" Taku ran after him. Grey gave up trying to focus on his training and followed the two, knowing Azure was going to have a fit with whatever Max was cooking up. That grin didn't promise much good. Mightyena yipped happily as he raced down the stretch and bumped into Maya. The Mawile pushed the hound off of her and continued walking.

Max met up with Spencer and Altaria, who were also looking for Azure. Take, Grey and their partners joined them quickly. The four of them stood in front of the Warp or teleport building, waiting for Max to say anything. Here the Alakazam would be able to quickly teleport the Elite Four to the other major cities in Metria.

"What do you guys say? Want to see what Miss Champion is up to?" Max suggested.

"And have Azure beat my ass in the ground for following her when she told me to keep an eye on things here? No, thank you." Grey scoffed at the notion. He was good, not suicidal. Azure had already shown to be quite sadistic if she wanted too. Poor Iris, who knew she could scream that loud.

"She doesn't have to know." Max pointed out. "Aren't you always going on about the fact that your Zoroark is so good with illusions? Besides it is weird that she would leave on such a short notice. Maybe she is in trouble."

Grey was starting to crack. He and Zoroark would show that arrogant bastard.

"Fine, I am in." The white-haired trainer had a feeling he would regret it. Spencer was the next to sign-up, although he had an urgent question he needed an answer to and Azure wasn't picking up her X-Transceiver. Taku didn't want to stay behind so she went with it.

* * *

In the meantime, Azure had been transported to the southern Aquila Resort and was surprised to see the townspeople celebrating something. The mountain town was famous for the peaceful atmosphere and the beautiful flowers they grew. So she wasn't prepared for the crowds that had formed in the small resort town. Gallade stayed close to her, unwilling to let her out of his sight in this pushy crowd.

She had no clue where to go and no time to waste, so she asked the nearest vendor for directions to the Police Station. She got some weird looks and someone even asked if she was in Aquila because of the disturbance earlier.

She admitted that she was, but didn't know exactly what had happened. One of the vendors was kind enough to inform her that while waiting in-line for the best tea shop in Metria, someone had been pushed on to the floor and his Gardevoir hadn't taken kindly to that. Not even bothering to apologize the person had continued to talk to his friends and neither the person nor the Gardevoir had let it slide. In the end, the police had found them with the brown haired man pummeling the rude one and the Gardevoir Force choking another that thought he should interfere.

Azure let out a shaky breath, inwardly happy that it wasn't worse than that. Ainsley had a bit of a temper and challenging a Gardevoir was deadly. Thanking the man for his assistance, the champion marched to the station with her Gallade in tow. She had some choice words to say to her friend.

Stepping into the station, it was clear to the woman that this was not a station meant for long term holding. The station was tiny and the cells were open, the 'prisoners' could easily converse with whoever walked by. A true county station.

Walking up to the person she recognized as Officer Johnson, she waved to catch his attention. He snapped to attention seeing as that the League Champion herself came to get the wrongdoer. He finally had connected the dots in regards to her name and appearance. Not to mention that the Gallade that followed her was a big clue.

"Miss Shalour, it is an honor to have you here. I wish it would have been under better circumstances, but alas we cannot predict the future…" Here Azure cut him off, as she was sure this would take ages otherwise. She just wanted to know what was going on and get out. She had a day off tomorrow and she didn't want to stress herself out before it began.

"Could I see Mr. Charité and Gardevoir, please? Just to see if they are truly who they claim." She asked with a slight edge to her voice. Something that Officer Johnson missed completely.

"Of course, Miss Shalour. Follow me."

* * *

Meanwhile, the Elite Four had managed to convince the Alakazam to bring them where Azure had gone and they were now standing in the bustling town square. Taku and Max recognized the place immediately.

"Aquila Resort? Why would Azure come here and especially today?" Taku asked Maya. The Mawile shrugged. She wouldn't even pretend to know why the champion did what she was doing.

"So, where would Azure have gone? This doesn't seem like a place she would go to out of her own violation." Grey asked the others. The others knew about as much as Grey did, so they couldn't answer that question.

"Maybe it would be wise to split up and look around to see if we can find her." Spencer offered. His Altaria trilled softly, agreeing with her trainer.

Max contemplated this. He hadn't spent that much time on memorizing Aquila's layout or their traditions. It would be easier to split up and look that way. He eyed the blue and white bird and then the surroundings. A flock of Swablu led by an Altaria flew by under much cheer of the locals. Spencer's partner would fit right in, that was good. Azure wouldn't be suspicious of the bird when they were found in the wild here.

"I agree, Labcoat." Max nodded slowly. As far as idiots went, Spencer wasn't too bad.

"So, which teams?" Grey asked with a bored look on his face.

Before Max could speak up to claim Spencer, since he was the least likely to chatter the whole time, the Dark-type trainer sniffed a few times and scrunched up his nose. He smelled something sweet and something that was vaguely familiar.

"Would anyone of you like a Gracidea flower?" A girl dressed up as a Shaymin shoved a flower in Grey's face. A whole bunch laid in the basket she held in her hands. His eyes grew wide as he grabbed the flower and opened his mouth to say no. But he was too late. The girl had placed the flowers in available pockets and made her way to the next group of people.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you guys, today is the Gratitude Festival in Aquila. They are celebrating the arrival of the Shaymin fifteen years ago." Taku informed her colleagues.

Max just grabbed his one and tossed it over his shoulder. The female Elite Four member took a careful sniff of hers and gave a small smile before letting Maya take a big whiff of the intoxicating scent.

The scientist of the group gave his flower to his Pokémon as he figured she would like it better. They then turned to Grey, who was still looking at the innocent pink flower with horror.

"Grey, what is going on?" Taku looked at him with confusion. Why was he so afraid of a small flower?

* * *

Azure was met with a site she wouldn't be forgetting for a long time. A shiny Gardevoir was playing poker with some officers and from the looks of it, the Gardevoir was winning. As was evident by the pile of sweets next to the shiny Pokémon.

"G, I want to get out. Please." A very familiar voice graced Azure's ears. The girl turned her head and looked right at Ainsley Charité. The brunet with green eyes was of average height and build. But his eyes still had that crazy glint in them. His cellmate was plastered to the wall, trying to get as far away from Ainsley as possible.

"But I don't wanna wait until she is here." He whined obvious to the fact that Azure was standing three feet away from him.

"I would stop whining, Ley. After all, it is your own fault you are in here." The blonde crossed her arms and looked at him with a disappointed expression on her face.

"Zuri, how nice to see you here." Ainsley purred at her without missing a beat. She shook her head at him.

"My name is Azure, why does everyone have to make it something different?" She asked nobody in particular. Gallade patted her back comfortingly. She just glowered at Ainsley.

"Does it matter? Get me out, please." Ainsley looked with half an eye at his cellmate and sighed. "I am bored out of my mind. And Gardy is doing nothing to amuse me."

"You know I could just take G with me and leave you here to entertain yourself." Azure shot back at Ainsley.

"Honestly, what were you thinking starting a fight in the middle of the town square. And then, having somebody call me to bail you out. Why are you even in Metria? And how did you even know that I am here in Metria and able to come get you?" She scolded the uninterested male.

"Sweetie, you are the Metria Champion. That was all over the news. It was even broadcasted in my little town." Ainsley sat back and inspected his nails.

"Oh no, I chipped a nail." He wailed softly.

Azure slapped her forehead and turned on her heels before walking out of the room. Gallade walked to Gardevoir and looked at his cards. The Psychic/Fighting-type nodded impressed by the hand the part- Fairy had. The two quickly exchanged information and were talking as they waited for their trainers to start being normal and get out of the station.

"Why do I even do this?" Azure asked out loud as she came back in to collect Ainsley and Gardevoir.

"I paid the bail, but you will be paying me back, do you hear me?" She hissed at Ainsley, who was let out of his cell.

"Yeah, yeah. So, let's have some fun, shall we?" His slightly insane smile bode nothing good for the girl.

* * *

Max was still trying to recover from his laughing fit. Grey was extremely sensitive to the special properties that Gracidea flowers were known for: lowering inhibitions and enhancing happy feelings. And seeing as the whole town was filled with the things. The effects were so great that he actually got drunk off of them. Seeing that happened, put a lot of great ideas in Max's twisted mind. He was already thinking about how he would get more of the flowers.

After the effects had taken hold of Grey, there was no stopping it. He was off like a rocket and hitting on women left and right. It was nice with sweet words and often he would give them a Gracidea flower, to show his appreciation. Too bad not everyone liked it and he had received his fair share of slaps.

Taku was looking at the train wreck with horrified eyes, but she just couldn't look away. Spencer was trying to deal with a drunk Grey, who was a lot stronger than he looked like. Maya

"Come on, we are going home." He would say to the Dark-type trainer, but Grey would just shake his head and turn around to look at the next girl. Altaria was flying around agitated, while her trainer was running on the ground trying to help Grey.

"Alex, we have to do something." Taku looked at Max who, just dusted off his pants and shook his head. He didn't feel like it.

"I am going to look for Blondie. Are you coming?" He asked instead. Zoroark was still invisible and waiting patiently until her trainer decided to stop making a fool of himself in public.

"You could instead be trying to deal with Grey." Max offered. He knew she wouldn't try to deal with Grey on her own. She simply wasn't strong enough to do it.

"GREY, THAT IS NOT THE RIGHT WAY." They heard Spencer shout as he was trying to herd Grey to the transport point where the Alakazam were waiting. Taku looked over to see Spencer running after Grey, who had lost something. And Grey was shouting that it was too hot?

"Alright, let's find Azure." The girl immediately decided, causing Max to burst out in laughing again. Zoroark just rolled her eyes at the humans' antics. Couldn't they just act like normal dignified trainers for once?

Taku and Maya were walking after Max, who had decided to release Pidgeot find the blonde champion. Hearing her teammate find something, Zoroark just sighed and made sure she wouldn't bump into anyone on accident as she followed after her trainer.

* * *

"So you were curious about Metria and decided to pay me visit?" Azure had to say it sounded completely unbelievable. Seeing as Ainsley had been in Metria for the past month. Gallade came back with the cups of tea and dispensed them to the correct people.

"Thank you, Gallade, that is very kind of you." Azure thanked her Pokémon. The Fighting-type just nodded before grabbing his glass of water.

Ainsley didn't respond to his friend's disbelief and just nodded.

"I missed you so much, Zuri." Azure interrupted to correct him, he didn't listen to her. "It has been so long." Gardevoir nodded sagely at that statement as he sipped his tea.

"It hasn't even been a full year since we met in Shalour, because you wanted advice on how to handle a Mega Evolution. And we spoke on the phone two months ago." She interjected, with a slight smile on her face.

"And I thought to myself, gee, I must go and visit the lovely Azure Shalour and give her my congratulations in person. Since you were kind enough to provide us with shelter and food for those awful few weeks." He was raising his voice with every word that came out of his mouth. Azure almost vaulted over the table in an attempt to get him to shut up. She didn't want to draw any attention to herself.

"Keep your voice down, Ley. You will call upon the champion's greatest curse if you keep that up. And are you calling my training awful?" She hissed and pushed a stand of her hair back to where it belonged.

"The Champion's greatest curse? You mean the press?" He asked in a deadpan voice. He raised his eyebrow at her and she just wanted to disappear into the ground.

"Why would they even be interested in us? I mean, you have your boyt.." He began.

"Don't even finish that word, or I finish what I started all those years ago when I caught you sneaking around in the Tower." She threatened Ainsley. Azure clenched her hands in her lap as she thought back to the incident with…

"Why so touchy, darling?" Ainsley laid a hand over hers and leaned closer to her. She lifted her head to look straight into his eyes.

"Because…" Camera flashes went off and Azure could already see the headlines. 'Champion has a secret boyfriend/lover', 'Azure Shalour spotted on romantic date' and her personal favorite 'Champion grateful for love'. Seeing as it was the Gracidea festival.

"You planned this, didn't you." It was more of a statement than anything else and he knew it.

"So what if I did? The whole world should know about our love." He stage-whispered, just soft enough that the press on the other side of the terrace couldn't hear it. Just as she was about to retort, Azure heard a gasp coming from her right and someone fell on the floor.

Taku. It was Taku who fell on the floor next to Azure and looked up at her with big, innocent brown eyes. This was bad.

"YOU ARE ON A DATE? AND YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND?" Azure could hear someone slap themselves and surprisingly it wasn't her.

* * *

Max and Taku were off and followed Pidgeot. The two of them were close to Azure's location and tried blending in with the crowd as best as they possibly could. It was easier for the girl since she wasn't wearing all blank on a nice day like they were having.

"Look there she is. It seems as if she is with someone." Taku was the first one to spot the blonde champion standing in a line waiting for a teashop.

Max and Zoroark immediately entered their invisible mode and crept closer trying to see what she was doing. In doing this they left Taku and Maya to their own devices. The girl puffed up her cheeks in annoyance and left to find herself a good spot to spy on her boss.

"Ley, tell me again why I am waiting in line for a simple teashop?" He heard blondie ask her companion.

"Because, darling, this is the best teashop ever. According to the reviews, that is," Ley answered with a little zest. The shiny Gardevoir that was standing close by, now hung off this man's arm, so Max concluded that the brunet was most likely its trainer.

The dark-haired trainer was thrown off course. This is not what he expected. How utterly dull. She was on a date with someone and he went all the way to Aquila to witness it? He was ready to blow off the op and get back home when his ears caught something juicy.

"Well, seeing as I bailed you out of jail, you better treat me to some good tea then." She teased back, bumping him with her hip. Now they had Max's full attention. Bailed?

Zoroark rubbed her hands together and snuck closer to the couple, who were shown a table on the terrace. Max moved quicker than he had in a while to keep up with his Pokémon.

They settled a small distance away and to their great surprise Taku and Maya were already huddled next to the bushes. The girl made a shushing sound and leaned even closer to the bushes. To Max's horror, they kept leaning closer to the bushes. He inched her way and tried to pull her back out, but she was spooked and fell forward through the bushes.

Max had two thoughts. One: Taku was a horrible spy. And Two: Busted.

* * *

"I cannot believe you would go and spy on me. I have a private life that you shouldn't stick your noses in." Azure seethed at the Elite Four. Well, Grey was still out of it, but she counted it anyway. Max was just looking out of a window, not concerned with what she was saying. Taku and Spencer, on the other hand, were red and embarrassed.

"Mostly because you had no actual reason to do so, but out of sheer nosiness. And you let yourselves get caught.'' She shook her head, as Ainsley was giggling heartily with Gardevoir.

"To clear up anything that could have been misunderstood," Here Azure shot a glare at Taku. "This is an old friend of mine, the artist Ainsley Charité. He is not my boyfriend, never will be as he bats for the other team. UNDERSTOOD?" The elite four nodded and she dismissed them with a glare.

"Now to find a suitable punishment." She gave off a creepy smile that even scared Ainsley.

* * *

The peaceful atmosphere in the morning was disturbed by the screams that could be heard in Corona City.

"Zuri, why do we have run?" Ainsley shouted at the lounging champion. He and most of the Elite Four were running in the big stadium, while Azure was lounging in the swimming pool reading a book. She would on occasion look up to see them running their laps as her Pokémon would switch chasing them and giving them some motivation.

Grey was till lying in bed trying to get rid of his awful headache. Azure had taken pity on him after hearing what caused the problems. Although, she did let him enjoy the morning wake-up. She had let Salamence roar in the speaker system.

"You know how much I hate the press and then you just had to pull that stunt, didn't you? Salaud." Azure was lying in the sun enjoying, the gentle rays of sunshine.

"So why do we have to run then? And does Grey get a free pass?" Taku screamed as she ran past Azure, dodging a swipe from Weavile.

"Because you thought it would be a good idea to spy on me. And allowed yourselves to get caught. You should have known better than that." The champion yawned as she turned the page of her novel. "Grey is still trying to deal with the results of his Gracidea hangover."

Max's brain was whirling with possibilities to get back at the champion for this humiliating display of power. Even if she had a small point that he should have been able to make a clean get away.

"I HATE YOU FOR MAKING ME DO THIS, AZURE," Ainsley shouted at the blonde woman. Gallade had managed to hit him on the bum. It was just a soft tap, but Ainsley was a drama queen and he had to show it. Gardevoir, who was running with his trainer, had to laugh at his beloved partner.

"J'en ai rien à cirer, Ley," She shouted back. She chuckled as she heard the others curse loudly.

'Life was good,' she thought happily.


	10. Home Sickness, Screams, and Shenanigans

Hey everyone, I hope you had a great summer vacation or just summer. I had a wonderful time in Orlando and in Germany. That is also the reason why I haven't updated in so long. Well, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Love from Aurora

Metria 10: Home Sickness, Screams, and Shenanigans

* * *

Azure was still lying in her bed after her one day off from dealing with the doofus' at the Metria League. Even then she had to spend time with them. Added to the bunch of idiots was her old friend Ainsley, who was on a mission to annoy the living hell out of her. He was succeeding quite well if anyone cared enough to ask Azure about it. Small things like him hammering on the door of her suite in the early morning was doing it quite nicely. She was extremely tempted to have Ninetales get up from her sleeping spot and just torch Ley to ash. Too bad, it wouldn't work and the legal repercussions weren't worth it. So she got up from her comfy, warm bed and slouched to the door of her suite.

Passing through the living room of her suite saw a small smile grow on her face. Her own living room was filled with a comfy lounge couch, bookcases that were still mostly empty and a small coffee table. The reason for her smile was simple, her Pokémon. Currently, her smaller Pokémon were lying on the couch and each other, still snoring the day away. Ninetales was curled up around Espeon and Weavile was leaning against the fiery fox. Jolteon was lying on his back and his hind leg was twitching once in a while. Gallade and Salamence preferred to sleep outside in the small private garden that Azure had asked for.

Azure didn't think that she would be able to check up on her other Pokémon outside and seeing as the sounds of the knocking became more insistent, she was right in her assumption. The grumbling girl went to the door and pulled it open with a big swing. She didn't expect a fist flying at her and she was only just able to dodge it. Azure threw an annoyed look at Ainsley, who was giving her a bland look with his fist still hanging in the air between them. He just pretended nothing happened and started babbling at her.

"Zuri, it is time to rise and shine. I have so much to tell you before I leave again to travel around this beautiful region some more. Did you…" She cut him off by slamming the door right in his face. This was not a good way to start a full week of more work. She just wanted to sleep some more. Perks of being your own boss was that you could choose when you wanted to work.

"Go to the kitchen and get something to eat. I will be there in an hour." She half-shouted at him. Azure let out a big yawn and walked back into her living room. She longed to curl up with her Pokémon and insisting the outside world was just a dream. Too bad, it really was just a dream.

"But it is eight o'clock already. Get up you lazy bones. And your kitchen is simply awful. The cereal and bread are dry and stale, and the tea is not even worth looking at it." Ainsley shouted. His Gardevoir agreed loudly and so Azure turned back to face the door. Before responding, she rolled her eyes and counted to three. It did nothing to quell her annoyance.

"The tea is perfectly fine, you tea snob. Just because it isn't a top-brand doesn't mean it is awful. I rather like it actually." She sneered at him. He just gave a laugh and argued back.

"You have to be kidding me. You tasted the tea on the festival a few days ago. You have to agree that it was simply wonderful."

She rolled her eyes and went back to her room to pull on her daily attire. Her Pokémon were wide awake by the time she was done and seeing as they wanted to go with her, she recalled them. Ninetales didn't want to be recalled and thus was still out. The fox walked with her trainer to the door to see who the idiot was that had awoken her and her friends. The trainer pulled it open a smidgen. Her right eye was the only thing that Ainsley was able to see, aside from a few strands of her hair.

"If I show you a nice café, will you shut up?" She asked with a grimace on her face. She yawned behind the door. She didn't even bother covering it up with her hand. Her Fire-type butted her in the leg for not minding her manners and Azure had to suppress a grin. Little mischief maker. Ainsley nodded with a large grin plastered on his face.

"Alright, let's go." Azure shook her head at Ainsley and stepped out of her room, closely followed by Ninetales. After locking it securely, she took a hold of Ainsley's shirt and pulled him with her. He started to complain.

"AZURE, this shirt is made out of … "

"I DON"T CARE." She shouted back.

Max opened his door just in time to watch his boss and her friend leave the building. Instead of following them, he just went back inside his room. He had had his fill of being punished for the week. Besides that, revenge was a dish best served after a long time. If anyone else had been awake they would have heard evil cackles echoing through the building.

* * *

Spencer sat on the patio of the same café that coincidently Azure was dragging Ainsley to. He came here about once every two weeks after discovering the wonderful chocolate chip pancakes that they served there. The dish tasted just like the ones at home in Opelucid City. His Altaria agreed with that sentiment and stole a piece of the pancakes. Spencer was too slow to stop her from picking at his plate and had to concede a piece of the wonderful breakfast. He sighed and just rubbed the bird's head.

"Sir, would you like some more tea or juice?" One of the waitress' asked him. Spencer just shook his head in response. The waitress gave him a polite smile and turned to the other customers.

The brunet sighed heavily. He missed his home city sometimes. He missed the bustle and hustle of the big city. Even if he had been locked up in his lab more often than not, the city noise was something that was ever present. He missed seeing all those familiar, but also unfamiliar faces. He had a routine to get coffee in the morning, then visit one of the various electronic stores to see the new toys and releases. Maybe pay a visit to the gym to talk to Iris or Drayden. That had come to an abrupt stop when Iris gained the champion title. It had become a lot quieter around the gym after Iris went to live at the League.

Corona was still not as advanced as Opelucid had been in terms of technology when Spencer left on his own journey. Less technology meant a lot fewer people around. In fact, the only people he saw on a daily basis were the other Elite Four members and Azure. In stark contrast to the city boy, the others appreciated the silence dearly. Grey was used to the peace and quiet from the time that he became a trainer. In fact, he sometimes went further and would go out into a rural part of the region to observe the local wildlife. He would do nothing, but watch the local Pokémon interact and let his Pokémon roam around. It was just for a day, but it was very relaxing to him.

The only female Elite Four Member wanted the peace and quiet that Corona provided. Taku took the advantage to train in peace for hours on hand. If she was stuck on something , she would to go and annoy someone to help her. Azure was the most helpful one in that regard, but the others were helpful in their own ways. She would do the same if she wanted someone to keep her company.

And Max? Well, Max was silent for most of the time. The few times the strategist could be seen was when he raided the fridge in search of something edible. Or when Taku had managed to ambush him and get him annoyed enough to give her some tips to shut her up so he could return to his projects. Spencer would try to stay clear of Max since the darker haired man was a bit of a wildcard. He felt a chill running down his spine as he thought of the evil gleam in the man's red eyes as he had looked at Azure this weekend.

He turned his thoughts the last person of the odd quintet. The champion herself, Azure. The blonde woman enjoyed every minute of the peace that seemed to surround the League buildings. For someone that was supposed to be in the spotlights a lot, she sure hated the press. But Spencer had to admit that she had a small point. Just going for a walk outside the gates was a challenge for the champion. He had no love for the press either, but in Azure's case, they had gone completely nuts.

He pulled on the paper he had been reading and looked at the pictures in it. Even two days after the events in Aquila Resort she was still featured in the paper. One picture was amazing. It featured her and Ainsley sitting with their Pokémon looking shocked at Taku. The sheer horror on her face at being spied on was framed forever in a picture and Spencer had to chuckle looking at it. She was very expressive when she was caught unaware.

He was also in the paper. A photographer had seen a rare opportunity and had taken a picture of Grey swaying like a drunk and Spencer trying to keep him under control. But it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. And this was featured only in the showbiz section of the paper. Meaning it wasn't seen as something important. Azure would have a certified heart attack if this had been featured in the paper of her home region: La Gazette.

Speaking of Kalos. Spencer gave a small smile as he thought back to the exhibition matches that were held last week. In specific a certain black-haired beauty. When Azure hadn't pulled on the attention of her longtime friend, they had gone out to the gardens a few times to just talk and she had even gotten him to sing a few times. At first, he had refused adamantly, but as they got to know each other better, he had done so shyly.

When he had asked her to sing in return, she had turned bright red and refused. Turns out she had a bit of trouble with following the melody of a song. Instead of being laughed at as she had feared, he tried to help her. At the end of their days together she was able to sing a few songs. Aside from her slight issue with following the melody, she had a lovely voice. When he told her so, she had flushed a beautiful shade of pink. She didn't do red, only complementary shades of pink, she had half-shouted at him when he had commented on it. They had a nice laugh about it the next day when her embarrassment had faded a bit.

Spencer was shaken out of his thoughts by Altaria. The bird had eaten the rest of his food and was now ready to leave the café and get back to work. Sighing, he stood up and after paying for his food, he and Altaria left the premises of the little café. Once on the road back home his thoughts turned back to Valerie. When he had made sure that all the guests had been delivered safely to the airport, she had slipped him a piece of paper before going through security. On it was written, in a very elegant handwriting, a string of numbers with the text 'call me when you have time'.

"Spencer, watch out!" He could swear that Azure was calling out to him. But she didn't leave the compound until ten at the earliest. So, the dragon tamer shrugged it off as a coincidence and walked on. It was a mistake.

* * *

Azure and Ley were watching with open mouths at the spectacle in front of them. The brunet had spotted Spencer walking towards them in the distance and had pointed him out to the blonde next to him. Azure had shouted out greetings, but it seemed like Spencer was deep in thoughts. She gave up after trying for three times and just walked with Ninetales, Ley, and Gardevoir to the café she had in mind.

As they came closer to Spencer, they saw he was not even paying attention to the road. Altaria had already reached them and landed on Azure's arm. The bird was chirping away and Azure nodded empathetically at the blue bird.

"I know, little beauty. Your trainer is a little distracted, is he not? Do you know what your trainer is thinking about? He doesn't even watch the roads as he should." Azure was talking to the bird and Ley just rolled his eyes at her. Surely, it was not important as to what Spencer was doing at the moment? This conversation could wait until he had eaten. Ainsley felt that his stomach was much more important than Spencer walking into ditches and stumbling over small holes in the road.

The blonde looked up to see what Spencer was doing and her eyes grew wide.

"Spencer, watch out!" She yelled. He was heading right into a small pond. He didn't even acknowledge her and as she had predicted, Spencer stepped into the pond.

"Oh dear, walking with wet pants all the way back to the League is not going to be a very nice experience, won't it be?" Ley piped up and Azure just shook her head at him. That was what Ley was concerned about? In any case, Azure sped up and rushed to help Spencer out of the pond.

He was surprised to see her and Ninetales standing next to the pond.

"I thought you didn't leave the compound before ten? Why are you here?" He asked in confusion. Grasping the hand Azure held out, the Dragon-type trainer hauled himself out of the pond.

"Ley bonked on my door this morning. And he wouldn't stop until I promised to give him tea that isn't bad, as the tea we have and I quote, "is not even worth looking at it." Can you believe him? The tea is fine, he is just a snob, I am telling you." She huffed and Spencer laughed at her expression.

"But enough about me. What were you thinking about to not notice you were walking into a pond?" Azure gestured to this wet pants and the fact that Altaria was sitting smugly on her arm. Spencer flushed completely red and looked away from Azure's gray eyes.

"I can't remember." Was his lame excuse and both knew it was just that, an excuse.

"Surely you can't. Was it about the festival in Aquila or are you working on a new project and it is not going as you want it to be?" The blonde guessed skeptically. Spencer was glad she was completely wrong and opened his mouth to tell her that the festival had been on his mind. But lo and behold, Ley threw a kink in the wrench.

"Or mayhap it was a girl that he was thinking about?" The other brunet offered as he strolled up to the two taking trainers. Spencer felt his heart stop briefly. The traveling artist gave him a knowing smile and a quick wink, something Azure didn't catch as she had her back to Ainsley. Spencer took a breath.

"It was about the festival, to be honest. You are still featured in the papers today." He scratched the back of his head and hoped with all his heart that the distraction would work. Azure shrugged. Of course, the press wouldn't let go of a story like that soon. Seeing as there was no better news at the moment, grasping at straws was better than to completely make something up.

"Trust me, if something even slightly interesting happens I will be out of the papers before you can say, Mew. Seeing as you are not going to tell me what took all of your attention, I am going to advise you to get some dry clothes." Azure shook her head in amusement as Spencer flushed again and started mumbling about getting a ride from Flygon. What a nice way to start her day.

* * *

"Why did I have to come again?" Grey whined at Azure in an attempt to be released from the woman's clutches. They were walking through Cetus Shore, on their way to the empty gym building. Well, it was void of life, ever since Molly had been discovered to hold illegal fights in the gym. The outside looked nice. It had been painted in neutral colors, as no-one had been certain on what kind of gym leader would come to occupy the building.

"Because you are the coordinator of the Gyms. Therefore you should meet the new one before he or she gets instated properly. And I am not dealing with rookies on my own." She retorted and pulled him into the gym building.

"But I don't want to meet them. Azure, let me go!" Grey tried to break the grip she had on his wrist and failed miserably. She was surprisingly strong and Grey had an inkling she had no idea of it herself.

Cetus Shore was going to have a wild day ahead if this was the prelude.

* * *

Max had been watching with curious eyes as Spencer came home from visiting that quaint little café he went to when he was feeling a bit homesick. The Dragon-type trainer had been half wet, half dry and completely flushed. To make matters worse, Max had been standing outside, savoring a lollipop, when he arrived back. All it took to make Labcoat run off, had been one raised eyebrow. Ah, he loved being a wildcard.

As he picked up some bottles, the dark haired Trainer scoffed at the notion of something like homesickness existing. Life was full of things to discover and try out, why stay in one place your whole life? Unless you had a good reason, longing for people was not one of them, there was no reason to stay for a prolonged period of time in one place. His own experiences had taught him that long ago.

The second surprise was that Azure had returned alone without the flamboyant Ainsley in tow. The two had seemed to be as thick as thieves in the previous few days. Her quietness and refusal to talk about it had been a source of excitement for Max and it had been taken away in a snap.

She and Ninetales had been quiet when they had re-entered the building. In fact, they had been so quiet that he and Zoroark had been caught off guard during one of their kitchen raiding sessions. Azure had done absolutely nothing as she took in Max standing there with his arms full of food and drinks. There might have been some muttering about making him pay more for the food, but no yelling, no curses. She had just taken a can of soda from his arms and left. It had startled Max to see her so pre-occupied. Then it had hit him what day it was.

Azure and Grey would be out all afternoon to get a potential new gym leader for Cetus Shore. Seeing as he had uncovered Molly doing stuff she wasn't allowed to, they had to fill in the position as soon as possible. The Metria League had already begun after all. Max gave an evil grin. He had a free pass to play all afternoon.

* * *

If this was the best that Azure had to offer than Grey was going back to the league. These three gym leader wannabes were very different from what Grey had been expecting. They had been talking to each other for a while unaware that Azure and Grey had been observing for even longer. They had been there for over an hour already. His Mightyena had already fallen asleep on the floor of the stands.

One of the hopefuls was a girl no older than Azure that stood rigid in the gym area with a Rapidash standing next to her. She was calm, but Grey was able to see that she had a small nervous tick. Her hands were also crinkling her soft pink skirt and the Rapidash was nudging her to stay calm. She was not as confident as she looked. The others were both male and that is where all similarities stopped.

One was tall and thin with pale skin. His angular face held teal eyes that were partially hidden behind black rimmed glasses. The boyish man had shoulder-length black hair framing his face. He had an affinity for the color black apparently. Not that Grey was the one to complain about that, he owned more black clothing than a certified Hex Maniac. The guy wore black shorts, paired with a teal tee, and a plain black jacket that was left open. His partner was a Delibird, which was quietly hanging onto the guy's shoulder.

The other was short, like shorter than even Taku was. But he was by no means self-conscious about it. The guy was ripped like hell and Grey had to begrudgingly admit that it wasn't that overdone either. But the way he dressed told Grey that he was most likely color blind. Who in his right mind would pair a bright neon orange shirt with green pants? In any case, the guy looked confident enough. His Nidoking was standing tall and proud next to him.

And Azure was sitting on the bleachers, trying to hide her yawns. It became obvious to Grey that she was not that impressed with the recruits at this time. Grey just rolled his eyes and focused on Azure, who was ready to deal with them.

"Alright, I want you guys to give me some names and show me your teams. We will go from there." Azure called out from the bleachers. The newbies were completely surprised and Azure rolled her eyes.

Her ever trusty Jolteon was lying on her lap. Stretched out completely, the Electric-type held a close eye on the weird people on the flat piece of ground. Why were they here again? The Pokémon closed his eyes again as they did nothing interesting and tried to get some sleep.

"Well, ladies first." The man in black and tall offered to the lone female on the floor. She took the opportunity to take a step forward and start speaking.

"I am Leah Anderson and I specialize in Fire-types. This is Rapid. We are from Mauville, Hoenn." The girl introduced herself. Her brown hair fell around her in ringlets and moved right with Leah. Her green eyes shone with a bit of uncertainty.

Azure just nodded and waved at her to move on. Christine fumbled around with the Poké Balls that contained her team. Grey understood why she hadn't been chosen in the first round. She did look cute in his humble opinion.

When she called out her Pokémon, Grey had to admit that he was mildly impressed with her choice of Pokémon. Besides her Rapidash, Leah had a Magmar, Camerupt, Talonflame and a Lampent, to Grey's big surprise. It was a nice collection and they looked well trained and capable.

Then the guy with the Nidoking went up.

"I am Mike, I train Ground-types. This is Nidoking." The introduction was brief and Azure was not whole impressed at his attitude. Grey found it hard to picture Mike in the group of gym leaders they already hard. And while both his and Christine's specialties had a water weakness, Christine had an advantage in the fact her fire-types looked very versatile.

Mike released his Pokémon without any prompt from Azure and revealed six very strong-looking Ground-types. Nidoking, Steelix, Rhyperior, Excadrill, Krookodile and a nasty-looking Gliscor. Azure's lips curled back a bit, but she kept quiet. All she did was raise her eyebrows at the last candidate and he nodded to her.

"As you might know, I am CG. Delibird is my partner and I train Ice-types." The man in black and teal introduced himself. He was just as quick to show his Pokémon as Mike had been but the team he showed off, earned an appreciative hum from the champion.

Aside from the Delibird that had joined the rest of the team, CG showed a Glaceon, Beartic, Lapras, and a very elegant Froslass. Grey looked with half an eye at his boss and he could see she had already made one decision. He just petted his Mightyena.

"It seems that the files we had on you were outdated, to say the least. I am sorry for wasting your time, Mike. But your team would scare off trainers, except the absolute strongest." Azure shook her head with sadness, she hated to disappoint people like this. She didn't think that he would fit into the grand scheme of things. Mike took it admirably and just recalled his Pokémon, before turning back to Azure and Grey. Both CG and Leah breathed out a sigh of relief. They still had a chance.

"Well, it was worth a try. I might come back next year to try out the League, but I have to get back to Unova." Mike saluted Azure and she gave a sincere laugh at his answer.

"I wish you well. And I hope to see your name appear next year at Corona. We will take care of all the costs involved with the travel from and back to Unova." She replied and Mike walked to the bleacher so watch the rest of the proceedings. He didn't feel like going back to Unova just yet. Cetus Shore had enough to offer for a few days. And he was due for a vacation.

Leah and CG were left on the field and were made to wait on Azure. The blonde was uncertain. Leah would be nice to have around, she looked sincerely nice and to be honest, Azure felt that it would be better to fill up the spot Molly left behind with another female gym leader. Having six male leaders was a bit much for her taste, but she had to pick the most capable one.

And what better way to prove that they were capable than to fight? Azure jumped up, letting Jolteon fall from her lap with an indignant squeal. The Electric-type picked itself up from the floor and jumped back onto the seats to resume sleeping.

"Alright, I think it might be time for a battle to test out your skills, both of you against me. Time to earn your spot." The blonde had reached the bottom of the stands and instead of walking to an exit, like a normal person, she vaulted over the railing. She didn't pause a second and just rushed to the spot reserved for the gym leader. Grey just sighed and leaned back to enjoy the show.

CG and Leah looked at each other in surprise. This was not what they had expected. But they shrugged and recalled the Pokémon they wouldn't be battling with. Then taking their positions they had to face one of the most feared trainers in the world. Azure Shalour, The First Champion, was their opponent and they were going to show her why they were here.

"Are you ready, Magmar? We are going to earn that spot." Leah balled her hands into fists as she took up a fighting stance. Her Fire-type let out an agreeing roar and breathed fire to show he was ready.

CG and Delibird were a lot calmer than the fiery girl. But they were ready as they could possibly be.

"Delibird, it is time to fight." CG nodded with a slight grin on his face. His teal eyes showed Azure that she had made the right choice into challenging CG and Leah to a battle. She grabbed two balls of her belt and lobbed them into the air.

"Spread the light, Espeon, Gallade!" She called out her Psychic duo. Popping out of their balls, they landed elegantly on the field and called out to their trainer.

"Now we are going to play nice. This is a testing battle. Not a fight to the end." Azure instructed as she caught the balls and placed them back in their rightful places. She cracked her fingers with a grin and gave the first order.

"Gallade, Swords Dance and then Psycho Cut! Espeon, Signal Beam. Get in the first attack." She shouted in her excitement. The Fighting Pokémon needed no encouragement and spun around while practicing some kind of kata. The feline jumped up and using Gallade as a post gained height before unleashing a well-practiced Signal Beam. Gallade took off after the Signal Beam and used it as a kind of shield.

"Delibird, into the air and use Icy Wind!" CG commanded. The bird took off like the devil himself was on its heels. Narrowly dodging the Signal Beam, the Christmas bird spewed out a cold air from its beak. Gallade rushed right through it but was having trouble maintaining his speed.

At the same time, Leah had issued some instructions for Magmar. The burly Fire-type intercepted Gallade with a Fire Punch and the two clashed hard.

"Espeon, time for Swift. Gallade, switch it up to a Nightslash." The blonde threw out her arm as she commanded her beloved Pokémon. This fight was nothing compared to the level she normally fought at but she was already impressed with how they seemed to work together in tandem.

The purple cat let her gem glow once again and many stars appeared in front of her. When she deemed the amount to be good, she unleashed them at her opponents. As they neared her partner she gave a cry of warning. Gallade took notice and withdrew from his clash with Magmar to get out of the way of Espeon's attack. He made use of the distance to charge up the desired Night Slash. He had to dodge a well-aimed Flamethrower from Magmar to succeed.

"Use Ice Beam to create an ice sheet on the floor and then Protect!" CG wanted to make moving around a bit harder for the agile Gallade and Espeon and he knew that Leah's Magmar would have no problem plowing through the ice.

"Well done, Magmar. Time to heat the fight up, Flame Charge into Power-up Punch, get Gallade." Leah wasn't going to pull punches. And neither would Magmar, for that matter.

* * *

"Sheesh, Miss Champion isn't pulling her punches, is she?" Mike looked at the onslaught with much respect for the trainers that were fighting.

"She is capable of much more. But it is mostly her Pokémon that are limiting the amount of power they expend when they attack." Grey observed the fight with interest. Azure didn't fight much and when she did, it always looked like a random bunch of attacks that somehow did make sense.

"She is, but that is not how it looks like. I mean that Gallade has a mean left hook." Mike commented as Gallade managed to get a hit in on Magmar. The fiery beast flew backward and landed with a heavy thud. Leah screamed in shock, before pulling herself together as Magmar scrambled back to its feet.

Delibird was picking a fight with Espeon as it was throwing Presents at her. The nimble Eeveelution was dodging whenever she could, but the occasional Protect could be seen shimmering just before it faded out of existence.

"Azure has a saying she is fond of. 'Only the powerful can pull their punches.' It is weird that she of all people would say that. She is, after all, a League Champion. I will never understand her completely." Grey stood up to stretch his sore muscles.

"Women aren't mean to be understood. But it would make our lives a lot easier if we could." Mike commented on the situation. All Grey could do wasnod at that sentiment.

* * *

"Alright, that will be it for today!" Azure had all the information she needed. Her Pokémon stopped fighting immediately and went back to their trainer. Aside from a few scratches they were fine, it was if they had been doing a medium workout.

Delibird and Magmar, on the other hand, had been battered and thrown around like some kind of ragdolls. Leah was amazed by the gap that was between her and Azure. They were practically the same age, but Espeon and Gallade were so much stronger. She rushed over to Magmar to see if he was alright.

CG walked onto the field and picked up his Delibird with a smile.

"Hey buddy, you did a good job." He praised the Delibird. It had been a while since they last tasted the bitter aftertaste of utter defeat. But he knew he still had a long way to go. He still had time to grow to where he wanted to be. But where that was going to be taking place was in the hands of the blonde that was currently checking her Pokémon on the other side of the field. As she turned to face CG and Leah, CG could see that there was no gloating or triumph in those light gray eyes.

"You both did extremely well. You worked with each other to try and set the battle to your hand. CG, the ice floor was well executed and it takes trust in your partner to do a stunt like that. It broke up Espeon and Gallade, making sure Espeon had trouble advancing to Gallade and at the same time trapping Gallade into combat with Magmar." Azure had high praises for both trainers and she smiled at Leah.

"You made excellent use of CG's distractions and kept Gallade focused on Magmar. You even managed to land a few hits thanks to that. You made sure that Delibird, seeing as he is fast but a bit frail, could keep up with the fight and force the situation to fit your needs. I am having trouble deciding who to pick." She crossed her arms over each other and sighed. Thinking about it was giving her problems.

"Grey, do you have an opinion about it?" She called out to her Elite Four member, who had dragged down Mightyena and Jolteon. He shrugged. From what he had seen they would both fit into the League as a whole.

"Go with your instinct." He yelled back. He didn't want to make a choice and have her disregard it completely. Not that she would, but he preferred to keep his own council.

"Alright, I have decided. The Cetus Shore gym is yours, CG."

* * *

"I am going to take an early shower and wash off the grime." Azure was lying on the couch in the shared living room when she said that and Grey threw a magazine at her.

"You should you stink," He joked. Azure let it slide good naturally and left Espeon to lie on the couch next to Grey's Mightyena. Grey smiled softly and picked the nature magazine back up and began reading it. The peace did not last very long. A blood-curdling scream rang out from the rooms area and Grey jumped up.

A pink haired Azure stormed back into the room and she was spitting mad. Grey stared at her for a few seconds before laughter bubbled up in his chest. Slapping a hand in front of his mouth didn't do him much good as soft sounds of laughter still escaped the confines of his mouth. Taku, who had heard the scream, had rushed back into the shared common area. It took two seconds before she burst into laughter.

"I have to say bright pink is not your color," Max commented from the doorway. In his hands was the dreaded camera and Azure was blinded when the flash went off.

"But it makes for nice photo's." And with that the resident spy made his way back to his room, wondering when she would start screaming.


End file.
